Icicle Dreams
by CaramelBay
Summary: AU! Lucy is a talented figure skater who is trying to escape from her troubled home life. When she's invited to join Fairy Tail, a famous skating center, will she accept! NaLu, Gruvia, Jezra, GaLe
1. Prologue

It happened when I was eight years old. Mama had just gotten out of the hospital and Papa was out of the country on a business trip. Without him there to keep a close eye on the two of us, Mama bought tickets to go see the Blue Pegasus Figure Skating team. They were known as Japan's best and traveled all over the world giving performances. They were also known to have some of the youngest and most talented performers in the entire world.

Mama and I took our seats in the cold stadium, waiting for the show to start. I wasn't exactly sure why Mama wanted to see this show, but I really didn't mind since we almost never got to spend time together. A few years ago Mama had gotten really sick. Papa told me it was called cancer. Back then I didn't know enough to realize how serious it was, I just knew that it made Mama weak and she had to spend a lot of time in the hospital.

"Lucy-chan" Mama's voice woke me from my thoughts. "Wait here while I go buy us some hot chocolate." She said, smiling kindly at me.

"With lots of marshmallows?" I asked, excited. She laughed and stroked my hair affectionately.

"Of course, hot chocolate isn't complete without marshmallows!" With that Mama left to buy us some hot chocolate.

I turned my attention to the ice. Nothing was really going on other than a few men skating around, picking things off of the ice. Nothing too impressive I decided and sat back in my seat, kicking my feet back and forth out of boredom. It was then I heard the roar of the roar of an engine and a huge truck looking machine drove onto the ice.

'Why are they doing that?' I thought frantically. 'It's going to break the ice!' I stood up in a panic, and looked around. No one else seemed alarmed like I was and a man behind me chuckled.

"It's okay little girl. That's an ice resurfacer. It cleans and smoothes the ice so skaters won't trip and fall." A bald, heavy… man told me. At least I think it was a man. It was wearing a long purple dress and wearing tons of jewelry, but it definitely sounded like a man. I nodded my head and watched as the machine drove across the ice, leaving behind a smooth and glossy patch of ice behind it. It almost seemed to sparkle.

I turned back to the man. "It's so pretty! How does it do that?" I asked excitedly.

He laughed and winked at me. "Magic." He whispered. I looked at him curiously, that was definitely not the answer I was expecting. He smiled and looked back out onto the ice. Suddenly a boy in his early teens with spiky orange hair ran out to the man in a panic.

"Master Bob!" He all but shouted. "There's big trouble! Karen was-"

"Alright Loke, it's going to okay. We don't want to frighten our guests now do we?" The man who I assumed was Master Bob asked calmly. The boy looked around in embarrassment but the look of panic never left his eyes. Master Bob stood up and let the boy lead him out his seat. He stepped into the isle way and looked back at me. "I hope you enjoy the show and enjoy the magic." He said with a wink, oblivious to the hysterical boy who was almost pulling his arm off.

After this scene Mama came back with two steaming hot chocolates and a program. She handed me my cup and I let the sweet warmness fill me up. I buried my face into the scarf I was wearing and waiting, content in the warmth.

"Look at this Lucy-chan" Mama said handing me the program. I flipped through the pages, uninterested and she went on talking about things she had heard about the performance. When I got to a page that listed the performers' statistics she gave a low whistle. "Wow Lucy-chan, some of these kids are the same ages as you." She murmured. Mama had this far off look in her eyes, like she was remembering something. I was about to ask her about it but I heard Master Bob's voice come out over the loud speaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our show! Our performers have been working day and night for weeks in order to prefect what they are going to show you this evening!" His voice was full of pride and about a dozen skaters made their way onto the ice. "I hope," he continued, "After witnessing our show you will be able to see the magic and be able to harness it for yourselves!" The loud voice concluded.

I looked over at my mother to see if she thought this was as crazy as I did, but as I did I saw her eyes filled with tears, like she was witnessing something she never thought she would be able to. Her eyes sparkled and stared in awe, like this was the single greatest thing to ever happen to her. The feeling was infectious so I turned back to the rink to see what so wonderful.

Three young boys took the ice and they danced- no flew, around the rink, doing complicated turns and jumps that caused me to hold my breath every time they left the ice. I decided it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I couldn't stop watching. These boys were amazing; I didn't even know boys could be this amazing! I watched in awe as the smallest boy started laughing and reached his arms out into the audience, inviting us to join him. I felt myself reach out, wanting to take his hand and dance with him. After a few seconds he dropped his arms and shrugged, as if to say 'oh well' and went back to dancing with the other two boys, continuing their amazing routine.

The show continued as other performers came out. Finally, an extremely beautiful women with her green hair tucked into a bun took the ice. She looked older than the other performers, but her beauty made it hard to tell. She was wearing a shimmering blue leotard with a skirt that went down to her mid thigh and strips of white fabric coming off her shoulders. She was stunning, like a princess. "Karen…" I heard my mother whisper in awe. I noticed the boy with the orange hair who had dragged Master Bob away standing on the edge of the rink looking extremely worried. I wondered why, but those thoughts immediately disappeared when Karen began her performance. I was wrong, she wasn't a princess. She was a queen.

Master Bob was right. I saw the magic, and I felt it too. It danced along with this woman, it followed every turn, wrapped itself around the skater with ever spin, and then finally settled over the audience. I felt the magic seep into my skin, and wrap itself around my young heart.

We left the stadium that day and a few days later I was enrolled in ballet and figure skating classes. Turned out I was pretty talent at figure skating, but I'm sure it was because of the magic I now possessed. I could tell Mama was happy and I thought maybe this was the reason she took me to that show.

After two years I was invited to join Fairy Tail, a skating center that had an impressive figure skating team that competed all throughout Japan and had even traveled to the Olympics! They also had other notable teams such as their hockey team and speed skating teams, but those didn't interest me. I remember racing around the house, letter in hand to show Mama and Papa, I knew they would be proud. When I finally found them in heard yelling and knew they were arguing again. I looked at the letter in my hands and ripped it up. With all the financial and health troubles my parents were having, they didn't need another. And with that I threw the ripped up letter into the trash can and went back to my lessons.


	2. Chapter 1

Authors Note:

Okay this is chapter one! Please tell me what you think! This one will be a bit longer since it's the first real chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.

"… And it was like Woosh! And then Slide! And then Crash! And so she kinda broke her leg." The petite blunette sitting across from me finished. My best friend Levy and I were sitting in the cafeteria and I listened as she talked about her latest race. Levy was a speed skater for Fairy Tail, and all though she was really small, she was extremely fast. I didn't know much about the speed skating world but I heard that fans call her 'The Pixie.' I suppose it suited her, she could be pretty mischievous sometimes.

I curled a lock of blonde hair around my finger. 'Maybe I should get it cut soon,' I thought lazily before I noticed Levy starring at me. "What?" I asked, wondering if there was anything on my face.

"You haven't been getting much sleep lately have you, Lu-chan?" Levy asked worriedly. I shook her off with a wave of my hand.

"It's just been pretty hard recently after my mom and dad got a divorce. Mom was the one who supported my skating and Dad didn't and then guess who got custody? Loke's been trying to get me signed up with a skating center but every time he does, Daddy declines on my behalf." I said angrily. "I'm just annoyed because Loke has been working so hard but it's getting us absolutely no where." I picked up my sandwich and took a bite. "I've also been putting a lot more practice hours in at the rink. It's not fair for just Loke to be working hard" I finished, thinking fondly of my manager who was basically a big brother to me now.

Levy slammed her hands on the table, surprising me because it was very un-Levy like. "Come to Fairy Tail! It's not as strict as other places! You wouldn't even need your dad's permission! Loke's twenty-one! He could sign off as your guardian! Plus they send you an invitation every year." I cringed at that, thinking of the five unopened envelopes sitting at the bottom of my desk drawers.

"Lu-chan" Levy looked me dead in the eyes. "They want you. They NEED you." I knew that was true. Even though I was unattached to a skating center, I had heard about Mavis Vermillion, the number one skater in all of Japan. She was incredible and aside from Karen, my number one role model. She was the pride and joy of the fairy tail figure skating team… Until her death four years ago. Mavis' death rocked the figure skating world and I heard that the Fairy Tail team had crumbled.

I sighed and brought my attention back to Levy. "Even if that's true, I don't know how I would feel about being in a center that wasn't solely for figure skating." I stood up from the table to throw my trash away. "I'm sixteen Levy. Now's the time when I need to get serious about my skating. I can't take the back seat at some skating center while a bunch of hockey players destroy the ice."

Levy just rolled her eyes as I walked away. It's not like we were fighting, we definitely weren't mad at each other. We have this conversation all the time, nothing ever changes.

Speaking of hockey players, our cafeteria was full of them. Unlike other schools that cherished their football team or basketball teams, the number one sport here at my school is hockey. Go figure. Although most people just played on the school team, a select few are also member of the Fairy Tail team. Those guys were basically the pride and joys of the school. So therefore, on game days it seemed like I was the only one who thought how dumb a sport it was. Walking to the trash can, literally every table I passed was either talking about the game, talking about players, or the weirdest, trading player cards like they were pokemon cards. It was sickening. I squeezed pasted a group of seniors who were standing by the trash cans. Usually seniors can leave campus for lunch, but since it was game day they all wanted to stand around and talk, making the cafeteria more packed than usual.

"All for a stupid hockey game." I muttered to myself. I quickly threw away my trash and spun on my heel, wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately I failed to another person walking my way and before I could stop myself, we crashed into each other. The remains of their lunch splattered on the two of us and I was vaguely aware of a few spaghetti noodles that had made their way down my shirt.

The cafeteria went silent.

I looked at the girl across from me, not realizing who it was due to the spaghetti sauce coating her face and red hair. Wait. Red Hair?!

I jumped up and offered my hand. "I-I'm sorry Erza-sempai! I wasn't watching where I was going and-" She cut me off with her hand, and I became aware of the death glares people were giving me.

"It's fine. I'm fine, you're fine, we're bother fine, everything's fine." She said, emphasizing fine, but I wasn't exactly sure whose sake it was for. The angry glares started to disappear people went back to what they were doing before our little crash. It was then I realized how bad it could have been if I had hurt Erza Scarlet. Erza was not only the student body president, but also the star player of the varsity hockey team, and the only girl to ever make the team! She did a quick inspection of me and grabbed my wrist. "Come with me." She ordered as she dragged me away.

Levy was watching this whole charade from the other side of the cafeteria. I mouthed help! But she just shook her head no, laughing. Hmph. Some best friend.

I tentatively tried to pull away but Erza's grip was rock solid. "Um… Where are we going Erza-sempai, no san… um hime?" I stuttered nervously. What was this terrifying woman going to do to me? I had heard rumors about her power at this school. Of course she ignored me. Erza kicked open the door to the cafeteria, hitting an unexpecting Gray Fullbuster in the face.

"OW! What the hell Natsu! What was that- Oh! Erza! What's going on?" The guy asked. I'd never met this guy before, but I think he's slightly bipolar.

"Gray. As our local stripper I'm sure you have tons of extra clothes lying around somewhere for Lucy and I?" Erza asked seriously. I wonder how she knows my name…

"Local stripper? I don't mean to do it! It just happens!" Gray cried, trying to defend himself. He took in our spaghetti covered appearance and sighed. "But yeah, follow me; I have tons of clothes in my gym locker." He began to walk down the hall and we followed.

"Our skirts are fine, but if you have any clean shirts that would be great." Erza told him. She had finally released my arm, knowing I'd follow willingly now.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Gray said dryly. "Just wait here and I'll go get some." He told us as he entered the locker room to find us some clothing.

"Erza-san I'm so-" I began but she cut me off.

"Just Erza is fine." She said politely. She took a seat outside the locker room door and waiting. "It was my fault too, I wasn't paying attention." She said with a far off look in her eyes.

"Erza I know we just met and all but-" I started but was cut off again when Gray burst through the door, proudly holding up two clean shirts. He threw them at us and ushered us into the locker room.

"No ones in here now so you guys can change in here. I'll stand guard at the door to make sure no guys come in." Gray said.

We walked in and were immediately hit with an awful smell. I held my nose trying to block out the smell. "Boys." Erza said simply, obviously used to the smell.

I stripped off my dirty shirt and went to put on the clean one Gray had given me when I noticed it wasn't a shirt. It was a jersey. A hockey jersey. I dropped it on the floor like it had bit me.

"I can't wear this." I deadpanned to Erza, who had gotten a different colored jersey than I had and had put her hair up into a high ponytail. She looked good. But not good enough for me to want to wear that jersey.

"Why not?" She asked, obviously unaware of the death glares I was giving the rotten jersey.

"Because it's a-" I started to whine before she began talking.

"Lucy, if you want to walk around all day looking like you got attacked by the flying spaghetti monster, be my guest. It's lucky that our teachers let people wear jerseys on game days so it's not like your going to get in trouble." Ohhhh…. She thought I didn't want to wear it because I thought I'd get in trouble?!

I sighed in defeat and put the dumb jersey on. I took my hair out of it's usually half up/half down style, hoping it would help cover some of the shame that I felt.

Erza smiled "Perfect." She smiled and we left the locker room

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Lunch had gotten out by the time we had finished changing so Erza and Gray walked me to class. Erza was a senior so she didn't have anymore classes today but Gray… I learned he was a junior… I'm not exactly sure why he wasn't going to class. He mumbled something about a 'stupid pink headed idiot.'

"So Luccccyyyy" Gray said, drawling out my name. "Are you going to the game tonight? It's the semi-finals and the Fighting Salamanders are going to kick butt! It's definitely something your gonna wanna see." He said confidently.

"Grey's step brother Lyon is on the opposing team, so he's really pumped up about this game." Erza whispered to me as Gray kept going on about tonight.

"Er probably not." I said honestly, earning surprised looks from both of them. "My dad doesn't like me staying out late and I didn't even get tickets!" I explained. I thought my excuse was sure fire, but then Erza pulled out two tickets out of no where and shoved them at me.

"Here. Two front row tickets." She said, her eyes gleaming dangerously. "And I'll be able to see these seats so you better not think about skipping out!" I fearfully took the tickets and I noticed we had stopped in front of the classroom. She smiled like absolutely nothing had happened. "See you tonight Lucy!" she called as she walked away.

I guess I still looked pretty terrified because Gray added, "Erza always plays better when she has friends in the audience; I guess she really wants you to come." He started walking after Erza. "Oh, and make sure you bring that jersey tonight, I need it for tomorrows practice." Gray said with a wave.

I waved back and walked into my class. Luckily it was study period so I didn't get in trouble for being late. I took my usual seat next to Levy and gave her an exasperated look. She just starred at me. Or to be more precise, the bright red hockey jersey that proudly proclaimed "FULLBUSTER" on the back.

I remembered it was a tradition for the girlfriends of players to wear their jersey on game day, and at our school it was taken very seriously. From the back of the class I heard someone whisper "Love rival…." I sunk as low in my chair as I could and laid my head on my desk with a groan. It was going to be a long day.

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It kinda explains what's going on with Lucy's family a little bit. I really didn't want to kill off her parents cause that's what everyone does. Or her mom at least.

Oh and basically the skating centers are like guilds, cept theres no magic so I really couldn't call it a guild.

And yeah…. The team name is the fighting salamanders…don't judge… I'm tired.

So to summarize

Lucy- 16, a figure skater

Levy- 16 speed skater

Loke- 21, Lucy's manager (Ill go into that in a later chapter)

Erza- 18, Hockey player

Gray- 17, hockey player

I was sooo tempted to bring in Natsu this chapter but then I was like… nahhhh

Please review!


	3. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Okay I know I'm updating this a lot but I just have so many ideas and I don't want to forget them before I can write them down!

I'm tempted to start another story with another idea… I'll wait a few days

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and it's characters do not belong to me!

I was right. It was a long day, extremely long. After study hall, I had gym and thankfully it was the last class of the day. That was nice at least. Levy and I sat on the side lines and talked as the boys tried to maim each other with a basketball. I leaned back on my elbows and closed my eyes, trying to relax, but no matter how hard I tried it felt like I was being glared at by someone.

"Hey Levy, what do you think I should do about tonight?" I had already told the smaller girl about what had happen at lunch when Erza dragged me out of the cafeteria.

"Well I think you should just go to the game and enjoy yourself, but we both know you aren't going to do that." Levy pointed out. I rolled my eyes and started stretching. "Fine then," she continued, "Just go and return the jersey, stay for the first period, and leave." Levy suggested.

"But Erza said she would be watching." I whined pathetically, trying to earn a little bit of sympathy from my friend. "And I probably won't be able to see Gray until after the game…" I noticed the glare become harsher and I spun around to see who it was, only to become face to face with Juvia Lockser, whose face was only inches from mine. I fell back in surprise, and slightly in terror.

"You want to see Gray-sama?" She asked, her facial features slightly twitching. "Juvia saw you wearing Gray-sama's jersey! What is your relationship with him, Love Rival!?" Juvia demanded.

I felt myself pale under pressure. I was a little terrified… until she burst into tears. "Why does Gray-sama let you wear his jersey and not Juvia." She sobbed. Juvia had managed to loop her arms around my neck, but I wasn't sure if she was trying to hug me or choke me. I awkwardly patted her back and eventually her sobbing calmed down to just whimpers and the occasional cry of 'Gray~sama'

"Alright Juvia, that's enough." Levy said forcefully, pulling the blunette off of me. Was it just me or was Levy acting extremely un-Levy like today? She turned her attention from Juvia and focused on me. "Juvia's on the Fairy Tail speed skating team with me. She's pretty good, but she'd be a lot better if she spent more time practicing and less time obsessing over Gray!" Levy lectured.

At this point Juvia looked ready to cry again. "Juvia can't help it! Gray-sama is all Juvia thinks about! If it weren't for Gray-sama, Juvia wouldn't even be apart of Fairy Tail!" Juvia exclaimed.

Now I was really interested. "Gray helped you join Fairy Tail?" I asked.

Levy sweat dropped. "Well he didn't exactly help…" She mumbled.

Juvia smirked at me. "Juvia will tell you because it proves how close Juvia and Gray-sama are compared to you!" She announced. I think I was supposed to be offended but it was kinda hard to tell.

"It all started when Juvia was skating for Phantom." She began. I knew about Phantom, it was a tough, no nonsense center but since it didn't have a figure skating team I wasn't all that interested in it. But its reputation preceded itself and even I had heard it was a pretty brutal place. "Juvia was the fasted speed skater but Juvia's manager would never let her race." Juvia continued.

"Wait a minute!" I cut in. "Lucy wants to know why Juvia talks in 3rd person!" I interrupted. Levy elbowed me in the gut and shushed me. Juvia then continued on with her story.

"Phantom's hockey team was pretty good and one day there was a match against Fairy Tail. Juvia's manager Jose wanted Juvia to go watch, so Juvia did." I listened in silence now, not wanting another elbow in the gut from Levy. "During the game one of the players became injured and since it was an away game Jose didn't bring many back up players… So Juvia was put in." Juvia told us, looking a little sad.

"Wait do you even know how to play hockey?" I asked, shocked. Juvia shook her head and continued with her story.

"They said, 'Juvia's fast, put Juvia in to play.' Juvia was scared but there was nothing she could do and they put lots of padding on Juvia. Even though they were a different kind of team, because they were with Phantom, they were still Juvia's team." She smiled slightly at that, remembering her old teammates. Even Levy cracked a smile. "So Juvia was sent onto the ice.

"It was then Juvia met Gray-sama!" Juvia gushed and I could almost see the little hearts in her eyes.

"Uh-huh. Right, Gray-sama, got it. So then what happen next?" I said, trying to get Juvia to focus. I wasn't even sure if she could hear me. Obviously this event was meaningful because she was on cloud 9 from the looks of it. Levy snapped her fingers and that seemed to get Juvia's attention.

"So then Juvia was put on defense since she was fast and could reach the puck faster than anyone else. The only problem was that the padding was so heavy and Juvia wasn't use to skating with so much weight, so it slowed Juvia down. When Juvia was finally able to reach the puck she noticed a very large man flying at her. Juvia froze. She didn't know what to do, but then at the last second Gray-sama tackled Juvia out of the way, saving Juvia from the large man!" She said excitedly, the hearts back in her eyes and bigger than ever. Levy and I gave each other a look.

"But that's not all! Gray-sama carried Juvia off the ice like a princess! And then he yelled at Jose! Gray-sama said he would never allow someone to treat his teammates how Juvia was treated and Juvia would be better off without Phantom!" Juvia said, finishing her story dramatically.

"So then Juvia joined Fairy Tail and we've been racing together since! Right Juvia?" Levy asked. Juvia noddedand I sweat dropped. 'Gray dug himself a pretty deep hole didn't he?' I thought to myself.

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After gym Levy and I decided we would go together to the hockey game. I figured it wouldn't be so bad if Levy was there. And this way, if we got bored we could just go to the library! That was another thing Levy and I had in common other than our busy lives on the ice, we both adored books! She was also the only know who knew that when ever I had free time from skating, I would be working writing my own novels and short stories. We then said good bye and she told me she would pick me up at six and I went home.

Expecting a few relaxing hours at home was too much to hope for. As soon as I walked in the door I was tackled by my Labrador Plue, who attacked me with kisses all over my face. I then noticed he was followed by a not so happy looking Loke.

"So when did you plan on telling me you registered for the Icicle Queen Contest?" He asked, an annoyed expression on his face. Oops. Busted. The Icicle Queen Contest was series of five big competitions and each competition judged different things. The skater with the highest score at the end of the contest was named the new Icicle Queen. I knew that Loke had wanted me to wait until I was registered with a skating center and had a legitimate coach, but I just couldn't wait another year to compete!

"Oh you found out about that?" I asked casually, scratching Plue behind the ears and earning another kiss from my lovable boy.

"Yes I did find out about that, Lucy." Loke said, hands on his hips mocking me. I swear he could be such a teenage girl sometimes. "Anyways, Lucy that's not the point! You know in order to even have a chance at placing you need a coach! A real coach! Natural talent isn't enough in the big leagues sweetheart! You're trying to insert yourself into a world you know nothing about!" He said exasperated.

"I know what I'm doing! And we'll find a coach too! I'm sure of it!" I said positively. "Buuuuuttt I had a really awful day at school and I really just want to eat some ramen and watch TV." I said, pushing Plue off me and picking myself off the floor.

"Ramen? Please as if." He grabbed the back of my shirt and hauled me out the door. "You barley won the Celestial Cup last month, Ms. Heartfilia. You need to get your butt in shape if you want to even stand a chance in the Icicle Queen Contest. You're spending two hours at the rink working on your turns." He ordered.

"Loke you tyrant!" I whined as he all but threw me into the passenger seat of the car. He got into the drivers seat and started the car. "Fine, but can we stop and get something to eat at least? Pleeease?" I asked. He ignored me and pulled out of the driveway. I sighed and looked out the window. "Tyrant." I repeated.

I knew he wasn't trying to be unfair. I knew how difficult this contest was. I especially knew how this would affect Loke too. As it turned out, Loke was the little boy I had (sorta) met at the Blue Pegasus show with my mom. A few years later I met him again at a skating competition. He told me he had been watching me these last couple of years and asked if I had any interest in a manager or trainer. Then he and mama began to talk and the rest is history.

At first I was confused as to why Mama would hire a seventeen year old to manage me. True I was only twelve myself, but I think twelve year olds are pretty responsible compared to seventeen year olds. Later I found out that Loke was the younger cousin of Karen! He knew this business as well as any old man. Because of his relation to Karen I knew Loke would be hesitant to let me enter the Icicle Queen contest. Karen won the contest six times! That's more than anyone else had before. Unfortunately though, on her last attempt at winning Karen tore the cartilage in her knee, permanently ending her figure skating career. Karen was always injuring herself skating, and Loke didn't want the same thing to happen to me.

We arrived at the skating rink and Loke looked at his phone. "I have some stuff to take care of. Can I trust you to work hard by yourself?" I gave him a huge smile and a hug and grabbed my bag from the back seat. "Ill be here at 4:30 to see what you worked on so no slacking off!" He called after me as I jumped out of the car and ran towards the building.

The building was all decked out in Fighting Salamander decorations and people were still hanging streamers when I walked in. There were only two ice rinks in town, this one where there was public skating and where most school games were held, and then Fairy Tail. I slightly shivered as the familiar chill of the ice rink settled over me. Since it hadn't been a planned practice I wasn't technically suppose to be, but there were only five or six people on the ice so it wouldn't be a huge deal to work around them. I stripped off Gray's jersey, thankful for the tank top I was wearing underneath. The cold cause my arms to get goose bumps, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before I would be sweating.

I changed into some leggings and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I slipped on my skates and made my way to the ice. I quick surveyed the people on the ice. An older couple, a mom and her daughter, and a boy who looked like he was struggling to remain standing as he skated back and forth on the ice. 'Maybe he's learning to try and impress a girl.' I thought aimlessly before forcing myself to focus.

For about fifteen minutes I warmed up, just skating my way around the rink till I was no longer cold. The little girl and her mom waved at me as I went by and the little girl starred in awe as I did a simple little turn. Maybe she'll grow up to be a figure skater too. I wondered if she could see my magic.

By this time the couple had left so there was a bit more room. I quick adjusted my ponytail and started practicing some harder moves. I started with an axel jump and when I landed the little girl shrieked with joy. I chuckled and thought hey, why not show off a little? That's still technically practicing, right?

I went into a biellman spin, my right leg arched above my head. I was extremely glad I had mastered my scorpion in ballet a few months ago. A few more moves later and the little girl and her mom left. 'Great,' I thought, 'now if that guy would just leave.' Unfortunately it didn't seem like he planned on leaving, but somehow we had reached a silent agreement, splitting the ice in half. This half way mine, that was his. I started to zone out, just doing figure eights and skating around my side of the ice.

I started thinking about all the movies I would definitely need to master before the Icicle Queen Contest. Death drops, splits, and most importantly, straightening my lines. I was prone to losing a lot of points due to my sloppy lines.

"LOOK OUT!" I heard a male voice yell before something-or maybe someone- crashed into me. I felt myself fall and braced myself for the impact of my head hitting the ice. I heard my head hit the ice with a Crack! And a few seconds later I felt the pain. I tried opening my eyes, only to have a world of pink and onyx swirling in front of me. I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting the spinning to go away. I distantly heard a guy's voice in the back ground but it slowly drifted away and my world went completely dark

Authors note:  
Well that's it for this chapter! Kinda a cliff hanger!

Please review and tell me what you think.

I never want to write the word 'Juvia' ever again 0.o


	4. Chapter 3

**Authors note: Hello everybody! I've been distracted with my other story but I wanted to update this one too. I get a lot accomplished when I don't have school!**

**Any way, the difference between this chapter and the others is that it is in Levy's point of view! I wanted to mix things up and I thought it would be a good way to show whats happening. Plus some Levy and Gajeel cuteness too! I put Levy's flash back in italics. **  
**Disclaimer: Fairy tail and its characters do not belong to me!**

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**Levy POV**

At 4:30 I got a text from Lu-chan saying she couldn't go to the hockey game tonight. Something about Loke. I didn't really read it since I was already reading a hot and steamy romance novel by one of my new favorite authors. I decided to go to the game anyways knowing Juvia or someone I could hang out with would be there. Lu-chan had already given me a ticket so I was good to go.

At 5:30 I got my dad to drive me to the ice rink, the game started at 6 so I bought my book to read. I got there and went into the building. Some of our players were already on the ice practicing. Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Elfman were taking turns shooting a puck into the net. Erza and Gray were on their game, but Natsu looked distracted. Every few seconds he would glance over at the locker rooms. Finally Elfman knocked him down, shouting something about how if Natsu was a man, he wouldn't have fallen.

I laughed and took my seat, already used to all their shenanigans thanks to Fairy Tail. I pulled my legs under me and took out my book. I was just getting to the part when Jessica proclaimed her love for the dreamy Alexander when I felt someone sit down next to me. "Jeeze Lu-chan, don't trick me like that!" I said as I looked up at the person next to me. It wasn't Lu-chan.

Why was he here?! He wasn't really a member of Fairy Tail, so it's not like he was here to support our players. His dark red eyes stared into mine as I remembered what happened a few days ago a moment that would forever hurt my pride.

_It had all started a few days ago. I was racing around the ice, trying to shave seconds off my time. Then I say him standing outside the ice, watching. Gajeel Redfox was a janitor at Fairy Tail. He cleaned the floors and operated the zamboni. That was it. I had heard that he used to be a pretty good speed skater, but after some mysterious event he was banned from competing ever again. But like most of us I guess, he just couldn't stay away from the ice. Mr. Makarov pitied him and gave him the job as a janitor. I really hadn't noticed his presence until a few days ago. He was the kind of person who blended into the background since he really didn't say all the much._

_Anyways, as I said before, I was trying to cut down on my time before the next big competition. Boy did I work my butt off and finally I did it! When I checked the time I shaved half a second off my time! I cheered and started jumping around on the ice. Jellal, a college kid who ran the concession stand applauded me from the side lines._

_"Great job Levy-chan! You're getting better all the time!" Jellal praised me. I was feeling really great about myself, till HE had to say something._

_"Half a second? Please shrimp, I could do better in my sleep." Gajeel said, making a 'tch' sound with his tongue. That made me angry. I was the fastest skater in Fairy Tail! No way was some janitor aloud to talk about me like that!_

_"You wanna bet?" I said, spinning around to face him._

_"Shrimp, I could skate circles around you." He shot back, laying his broom down._

_"Well then why don't you prove it?!" I yelled, becoming extremely angry with this jerk._

_Gajeel pulled some skates out from his janitor cart and slid them on. "Gladly." He said smirking._

I ground my teeth at the memory. "Gajeel what are you doing here?" I hissed. He looked at me with a bored expression.

"Mr. Makarov wanted me to come." He said simply. As he spoke he leaned back and I could see the owner of Fairy Tail, Mr. Makarov Dreyar, sitting next to him, nursing a cup of hot chocolate. He noticed me and waved.

"Mr. Makarov what are you doing here?" I asked. I mean, I know Makarov liked hockey but this was just weird. I only ever say him at Fairy Tail games.

"Oh, just here to support my brats." He said whimsically. "Besides, isn't this the championships?" Gajeel huffed, annoyed we were talking over him like this, but I ignored him.

"No Mr. Makarov, this is the semi-finals." I told him, starting to get annoyed. There had to be some reason he was here. I guess he finally got tired of my piercing stare because finally he said:

"Alright, alright if you must know, I was trying to run into a girl, but when I got here I found out Natsu already had." Mr. Makarov said, a vein popping out in his forehead. Gajeel stood up suddenly a muttered something about hot chocolate. Once he left I took his seat and sat closer to the old man.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. "What does Natsu have to do with anything?"

Makarov sighed. "The idiot got here as soon as school let out to try and break in a pair of brand new skates before tonight's game. He just got them yesterday!" I winced, knowing how painful and difficult it was to skate in brand new skates. "Around four he called me, practically sobbing because he had run into some girl and knocked her unconscious." Mr. Makarov said irritably. I gaped at him. Natsu? Our Natsu? How could he be so careless? Then I noticed Mr. Makarov crying comically. "And of course the girl turned out to be Lucy Heartfilia. After all my hard work of planning something so she would meet Erza and then Erza would make her come to this game. All my hard work! Down the drain because of that stupid Natsu!" Somewhere on the ice Natsu sneezed.

I froze. "L-lucy hear-tfilia?" I stuttered. "What happened?" I demanded him, shaking the old man by the collar.

"Natsu and her ran into each other and she fell onto the ice. Hit her head pretty badly too. The poor girl has been unconscious ever since. Once her manager arrived we moved her to the back of the locker room." Mr. Makarov told me. I stood up and raced out of the row of seats, practically slamming into Gajeel who was carrying two hot chocolates.

"Woah. Where's the fire, shrimp?" He asked, gently shoving a hot chocolate into my hand. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes, threatening to spill out at any moment.

"L-Lu-chan!" I stuttered, beginning to panic. So that was that text was about. It wasn't about Loke, it was FROM him!

"Gajeel! Take Levy to go see the Heartfilia girl." Mr. Makarov called after us. I felt myself start to go numb so I let Gajeel grab my hand and lead me to the locker room. By this time the game had already started and we had to weave through a crowd of people.

When we got to the locker room we went straight to the back where Lu-chan was laying on what looked like a stretcher crossed with a table. Loke was sitting a few feet away from here, texting someone on his cell phone. He looked up at us when we entered and forced a small smile. "Levy-san, I didn't think you would come." He said with a tired expression on his face. He looked extremely worn out.

"How is she?!" I asked. I was so afraid. It wasn't normal for Lucy to get hurt.

"She's going to be okay. She didn't even get a concussion." Loke told me and I started to relax. I felt Gajeel let go of my hand and it suddenly felt a few degrees colder. He leaned against a locker and there was a muffled clang. "She was even awake a few minutes ago, sorry you missed it." Loke said casually. I sank to the floor in relief when he told me that.

'Lu-chan was okay.' I kept repeating to myself, like a mantra. I took a sip from the hot chocolate I had been carrying the whole time, thankful that Gajeel had gotten it for me. I looked over to see him staring at me. Was he worried about me? No, I decided, that couldn't be it.

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A little while later we heard a buzzer sound, signaling the end of the first period. Loke stood up and started walking around, his eyes never leaving his phone. I wonder if he was a girl friend, I'll have to ask Lu-chan later.

The locker room became noisy as our school's players filled it. Immediately Erza, Gray, and Natsu rushed back to where we were.

"Levy! Gajeel! Why are you here?" Gray asked.

"Because of Lu-chan." I told him. "We're best friends.

Natsu went straight over to Lu-chan and grabbed her hand. He was sweating buckets and I think his eye was slightly bruised but he ignored it. 'Well this is a new side of Natsu.' I thought. Loke rolled his eyes and the gesture. "How is she?" Natsu finally asked.

"She's had better days." Loke snapped at the pink haired teen. Natsu winced

"Loke said she was awake earlier." I told him and Natsu side of relief. Oh this was definitely a new side of Natsu. I can't wait to tell Mira.

"That's good. I feel awful about hitting Luigi." He said and everyone in the room froze. Loke started punching Natsu, but because of all the padding it had little effect.

"Her name it Lucy you idiot!" Loke yelled at him. Natsu went and hide behind Erza but she had little sympathy for him. This charade continued for a few minutes until we heard a quiet voice.

"So…. Noisy." The voice said and we all turned around to see Lu-chan sitting up and holding her head. Natsu ran over and hugged her roughly, ignoring protests from Loke. When he pulled away Lucy looked at him, confused. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Natsu smiled at her like the air head he was. "I'm Natsu! I ran into you today and you got knocked out! Everyone was really worried and that's why were all here!" He told her Lucy looked at him for a minute in though, and then proceded to punch him in the face.

"You idiot!" She yelled at him. "Who taught you how to skate? Don't you know not to run into people!" Natsu whimpered before adding a "But luuuucy."

"But nothing!" She snapped at him. "You can't be so careless when you're skating around other people!" Accepting that Lucy was alright, Loke went back to playing on his phone and Erza and Gray excused themselves. I sipped my hot chocolate and listened to Lu-chan continue to lecture Natsu. I felt myself getting sleepy and before I knew it, I fell asleep with my head resting on Gajeel's arm.

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**Author's Note:**  
**Hello I hope you enjoyed this chapter**

**I wanted make Gajeel and Levy's first legit meeting kinda like in the anime/manga like where he beats up allof team shadow gear.**

**Sorry if this is full of mistakes. My computer is being really dumb and wont let me correct anything -_-**

**Please review and tell me what you think about Gajeel and Levy 3**


	5. Chapter 4

**Author Note: Oh my gosh you guys make me so happy! Actually I wrote this chapter yesterday and I ALMOST had uploaded last night, but then I decided to wait a day. But here it is!**

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**Lucy Pov**

'This boy.' I thought irritably. At first I thought he was just a bad skater, but the fact he was one of the school's star skaters AND a member of Fairy Tail made me seriously doubt the amount of skill needed to do well in the ice skating world. No, maybe not skill. Brains.

"But Luuuucccyy." Natsu said for maybe the third time that evening. "I told you I was trying to break in new skates!" He explained again for maybe the third time that evening.

"Natsu! You can't break in a new pair of skates and perform in them on the same day!" I told him for maybe the third time that evening. "You're going to kill your feet and never be able to perform again!"

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a performer then!" He said with a lopsided grin that showed off his teeth. Even though I had only known Natsu for about an hour, for some reason I felt really comfortable arguing with him.

"Why couldn't you have just used your old skates?" I muttered. I brushed a stray hair behind my ear. "You shouldn't try to break in new skates that quickly. You're going to hurt yourself." I told him

"But Luuuucccyyy." Natsu said for maybe the-

"Alright! Don't you have a game to get back to or something?" Loke snapped at the pink headed boy. Natsu suddenly looked like he had forgotten something. He picked up his helmet and slipped it on his head. He knocked it a few times with his fist a few times before saying:

"Hey maybe you should try skating with one of these Luce." And with that he left the locker room.

Loke rolled his eyes. "Now I see why you don't want to join Fairy Tail." Loke said. "I felt like my brain cells were dying from just listening to him.

"Loke." I said, my voice lined with warning. "Be nice. And that isn't why I don't want to join Fairy Tail." I told him. Loke went back to playing on his phone and I looked around the room we were in for the first time. I saw Levy asleep, her head resting on the arm of a guy who looked twice her size. He sat there with his arms crossed and eyes closed, but I don't think he was asleep. "Um…" I said, not knowing his name but wanting to get his attention. He opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows.

"Are you Levy's friend?" I asked him. He looked down at the small girl and then back at me. He just shrugged. 'Is that a yes or a no?' I said with a sweat drop. He closed his eyes again. "Wait!" I called out to him and he opened his eyes again. "What's your name?" I tried again, wanting to make conversation.

"Gajeel. Redfox." He answered. I waited for more but it never came.

"How do you know Levy-chan?" I asked him after a few more minutes.

"We work together at Fairy Tail." He answered simply, not offering to expand. I turned so that I was facing him, my legs dangling off the table. I'm not sure why I asked Gajeel this next question, but I thought of it and suddenly felt like I had to.

"What's Fairy Tail like?" I asked quietly. He looked at me surprised.

"It's like a family." Was all he said. I thought he was done but then he added, "The ice skating world can be pretty lonely. Everyone tries to tear you down, but then when I came to Fairy Tail I noticed that everyone supported one another. It's like having your own personal fan club full of people who want the best for you." Gajeel said with a chuckle. "Without someone to back you up, you're just a cute little girl wondering around in the world, waiting to fall into someone's trap."

"Like a bunny!" I pointed out. Gajeel looked at me like I was crazy. "Well bunnies are cute and they wonder off from their families and get caught!" I explained, trying to defend myself.

"Whatever you say, bunny girl." Gajeel said, chuckling. I jumped down off the table to see if I could support myself. Much to my relief, I could. I let go of the table I was using to steady myself. No problems so far. I started to walk towards Loke, who looked up in alarm.

"Lucy I don't think that's a good idea." He said and rushed to my side. He held his arms out in case I fell, but I pushed him away.

"I'm fine and my head feels better too. Can we go out and watch the game?" I asked him. Loke looked at me like I had two heads for suggesting to go and watch a hockey game. I felt my face start to get hot. "I mean I'm just hungry! I haven't eaten anything since lunchtime!" I said.

Loke gave in and we made our way out of the locker room.

**Normal POV**

"Did you really mean that?" Levy asked quietly. Gajeel looked at the small blue haired girl in surprise.

"Mean what?" He asked her.

"What you said to Lu-chan about Fairy Tail being a family." Levy said.

Gajeel nodded. "Of course. Even though I'm not apart of it, I know you all care about each other very much." He replied.

Suddenly Levy felt extremely guilty. He was right. Fairy Tail was a family. They were always there for one another. And he was too. At every competition and game, he always cleaned up after them, made sure the ice was safe to skate on, and even challenge them to do better, like when he and Levy had raced. Even though she lost, had she timed that race, Levy was sure she raced a full second faster than she had ever raced before. Levy looked up at Gajeel who starred back at her.

"You're apart of it." She said, her eyes shinning with tears. "You always have been.

Gajeel patted her head affectionately. "Go back to sleep, you're talking crazy talk." He told her. Levy smiled and cuddled into his side, falling back asleep.

**Lucy POV**

After wading through a crowd of what seemed like hundreds of people, Loke and I finally made it to the concession stand. Loke bought me a small container of popcorn and a hot chocolate. After that Loke guided me to the seats that were suppose to be ours. A little old man was sitting next to mine and he smiled at me as I sat down.

A few minutes later, a player who I could only assume to be Natsu noticed me sitting there. He started waving excitedly and only stopped once I gave a small wave back. This continued every time he skated past until he finally slammed into another player and felt flat on his butt. I burst out laughing and heard the man next to me mutter and "Idiot!"

"Do you know him?" I asked, wiping a tear from my eye. The old man nodded as he watched Gray skate over and help Natsu pick himself up off the ice.

"That boy has been skating for me for almost six years now. If he could just be serious for five minutes, we would never lose again! But look at him! Goofing off like the sport means nothing!" The old man complained.

What? Natsu skating for him? But the high school coach was sitting on the other side of the ice, with his players. And although it was possible, no way this was Natsu's six year of high school! I heard Loke clear his throat.

"Mr. Dreyar." He said, leaning over so that his elbows were on his knees and he was staring out onto the ice. "I hope you weren't planning on a sneak attack in order to have my client, Ms. Heartfilia, join Fairy tail." The old man made a face showing that was exactly what he had planned on doing.

"Mr. Celeste." Mr. Dreyar said addressing Loke. "I thought you had given up managing once Karen Lilica retired." The old man said, a little nervously.

Loke pushed his glasses up on his nose, creating a glare so I couldn't see his eyes. "And I thought Fairy Tail's figure skating program fell apart after Mavis Vermillion's death." If the old man was a statue, then Loke was the hammer shattering it. "In fact," Loke continued, "The only figure skater respresenting Fairy Tail is Mirajane Strauss, correct?" He asked.

Mr. Dreyar cleared his throat and tried to gather his thoughts. I felt bad for him, Loke could be pretty ruthless. "Well, yes, but that's exactly why we want Ms. Heartfilia to join Fairy Tail!" Mr. Dreyar said as the buzzer signaling the end of the second period sounded. "I believe with Ms. Heart- no, Lucy. With Lucy Fairy Tail could easily rebuild its figure skating program and…" At this point I started to zone out as these to men continued to argue about my future. I started to get annoyed too. They were talking about me like I wasn't even here!  
I stood up abruptly. "I'm getting some air!" I announced and stalked out of the building. It was early November, but it was already getting cold out. I hugged my body with my arms to try and preserve some body heat, but then out of nowhere I felt a jacket being wrapped around me. I turned around to see Natsu standing behind me, wearing normal clothes, all this hockey gear gone. A white scarf was wrapped around his  
neck and his face was buried in it, but I could tell he was smiling. "What are you doing out here?" I asked him. "There's still a whole period left!"  
He just shrugged. "We're leading by three points, they don't need me." I was going to lecture him about how his carelessness could get him kicked off the team but then he said. "And when I went to go see you at your seat, you were gone. I was worried they took you to the hospital or something and you were going to die because of me!" he said dramatically.

I rolled my eyes. "That's still no excuse for you to be skipping out on your team." I said, poking his chest with my finger. He wasn't too much taller than me I noticed. My eyes were at his nose level. Natsu grabbed my hand and beamed at me. Was it possible for this guy to be sad I wondered.

"Let's be friends!" He said enthusiastically. I decided to mess with him a little bit, curious to see his reaction.

"We can't be friends; I don't even know anything about you." I dead panned, definitely catching him off guard. He looked at me like I had kicked a puppy or made him eaten broccoli.

"You're weird." He said with a serious expression and then it turned thoughtful. "I'm seventeen, a junior, I have a little sister named Wendy who likes to dance, a blue named Happy, I live with both my parents, and I hate the cold!" He told me. Well I didn't expect him to tell me all that. "Your turn!" He said gleefully.

"Um.." I said thinking for a second. "I'm sixteen, I live with my dad, and I have a Labrador retriever named Plue. That's about it." I said with a shrug. "I'm not that interesting. But how can you hate the cold? You're a hockey player!" Natsu just laughed and took a seat on the steps. He stretched out and I sat down next to him.

"I'm always really sore after a game." He told me as he stretched out his muscles. I pulled his jacket tighter around me and tapped his nose.

"Well you must not be sore because the games not over yet." I said. He grinned up at me.

"It's over for me!" He announced. "Just one more week and the Fairy Tail season starts!" He said with a fist pump. "Hey Luce, since we're friends now, will you come to all my games?" Natsu asked me hopefully.

"Well not all of them. Maybe one or two." I told him "The only time I can practice my skating is at night, after the ice rink is closed to the public." I explained. He leaned back on his elbows and closed his eyes sleepily.

"I know how to fix that!" He said playfully. I didn't know what he was thinking so I decided to give into the bait.

"How?" I asked him.

"You could just join Fairy Tail. Then you could practice whenever you want and come to all my games!" Natsu told me.

"Maybe." I replied, smiling and bumping his shoulder with mine.

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**Author's Note: Woop another chapter! Hope you liked it. I don't know why but writing Levy and Gajeel stuff is a lot easier than writing Lucy and Natsu stuff… even then NaLu is my fav…. Ugh I have to work on that.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Authors note: Okay so this is kinda a long chapter, but I hope you like it! I even threw in some Natsu even though I hadn't been planning on it. Hope you enjoy! I need to find a picture for this story… If anyone has any ideas please tell me! And I'm thinking about getting a Beta... as you can see I make a lot of mistakes that I don't pick up on.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, or the song that is used.**

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**Lucy POV**

After the game, Loke drove me home. It was almost eleven o'clock when we pulled up to the house. I unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed my stuff, but Loke made no move to get out.

"Are you coming?" I asked him. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Loke also lives with us, it was apart of his contract. Another thing I forgot to mention was that my father was the owner of a giant business franchise, making us basically billionaires. That meant our 'house' was actually a mansion with a pool and private movie theater, but neither me nor my father was home enough to actually use anything.

I was thirteen when my parents got divorced. My mom just had a relapse of cancer and my father said he just couldn't do it anymore. Knowing that she didn't have enough money to support both of us, she offered my father full custody of me if he was willing to continue financing my ice skating career. I don't know why he accepted, but he did.

Jumping back to the present, Loke shook his head. "I have business to attend to." He said curtly. Ah. Business. That meant a girl. I wondered who it was this time.

"Oh alright." I said, getting out of the car. "Don't stay up too late. We have practice tomorrow at nine A.M sharp!" I reminded him. He clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes.

"I should be the one saying that." He said and reached across the seat to close the door. "G'Night." He said before it closed. I waved as his black convertible drove away and walked towards the house. As I neared the door I noticed one of the front rooms still had lights on in it. Uh oh. I gulped. Last time this happened I was yelled at for a full hour about responsibility, and it was only until one of our maids, Virgo, heard the shouting and came and saved me.

I put my key in the lock, trying to take as much time as possible when suddenly the door swung open. One of the maids whose name I didn't know was standing there. "Lucy-sama." She said, her voice filled with pity and her eyes had a pained expression in them. I guess she knew what I was in for too. I gave her a brave smile and walked into the house, dropping my skating bag next to the door.

I quickly tried walking past the front room, but my father's voice stopped me. "Lucy." He said, his deep voice echoing throughout the house. I went into the room and saw my father sitting in a brown leather chair and holding an open news paper in front of his face, reading. All I could see were his hands, slightly shaking in what I assumed to be anger.

"Your mother called today." My father said. Wait, what? I just stared at him in shock. Mama? But why? "She's coming to town for a day tomorrow, so expect to spend the day with her." He said with no kind of emotion in his voice. I on the other hand was extremely excited. I hadn't seen Mama since last Christmas. I knew there had to be some reason she was coming, but at that particular moment, I didn't really care why. She arrives at eight tomorrow so you and Celeste will be picking her up. Understand?"

"Yes sir." I said, ignoring the fact he still called Loke by his last name. In my head I was already planning out my day with my mother. She would watch me practice, and we would eat lunch together, and then go shopping, and then go see a movie or something. Just like we used to. I was so caught up in my daydreaming I almost didn't hear my father dismiss me. Almost.

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At a quarter to eight I saw Loke pull up in the driveway. So he didn't come home last night. That sly dog. I shoved a piece of toast that Virgo had so kindly prepared for me in my mouth, grabbed my skating bag, and ran out the door. Loke was in the process of getting out of the car while I slid in.

"Hang on, I need to change." He told me.

"No! We have so much stuff to do and no time to do it! Get your butt in the car! It's not my fault you didn't plan accordingly before you slept over with your girlfriend of the week!" I shouted at him, excitedly bouncing up and down in my seat. What can I say, I was giddy with excitement! Loke grumbled something about how 'Aries was not his girlfriend' and got back in the car. We drove to the airport, me talking the whole time about my mother and he adding a few 'hmms' and head nods.

After a half hour we finally arrived at the airport. Loke parked the car and we went to the baggage claim. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found her. It was crazy how much we looked alike. Same blonde hair, big brown eyes, and we even had the same figure! Well, used to I noticed. I ran towards my mother, an uneasy smile on my face. She looked a lot thinner and paler since I had last seen her but when she saw me it looked as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Lucy." She breathed and her eyes started to fill with tears.

"Mama!" I said as I wrapped her in a hug. I was right, she was a lot thinner. I was kinda afraid I was going to crush her. I pulled away and she looked at me with utmost joy.

"Lucy-chan, you've gotten so pretty." She said softly, reaching her hand up and brushing a loose hair out of my face. The intimate gesture made me want to cry too. Then Loke cleared his throat, totally running the moment.

"Layla-sama, did you bring any bags?" He asked politely, adding a small bow at the end. Well then. He was never this polite with me. My mother laughed and laid a delicate hand on his arm.

"Loke-kun. It's so good to see you. Thank you, but Capricorn-san is already retrieving our bags." Caprico Capricorn was an old man who had been a butler at the Heartfilia estate while my mother and father had still been married. Capricorn had been extremely fond of Mama and when she and Papa got divorced, Capricorn left too, saying that he would only work for Mama. The were close friends.

After a few minutes of waiting, Capricorn came with his and Mama's bags. He greeted me with a polite "Lucy-sama." And I did the same. We went back to the car and somehow managed to fit everyone one plus bags into Loke's four seated convertible. Mama and I sat in the back, chatting about what we had been up to for the last couple of months. Loke looked back at us using the rear view mirror.

"Layla-sama, Lucy-sama has a scheduled ice skating practice at nine, would you like to come and watch?" Loke asked. Part of me cringed at him acting so formal, but the other part was extremely glad he had invited my mother to come watch and I didn't have to. Mother clapped her hands like a little girl.

"I would love to. I haven't seen Lucy-chan perform in over a year." She said happily. Capricorn made a sound in the back of his throat.

"Layla-sama, I don't think-" He began to say.

"It's fine Capricorn-san." My mother's voice was tight and her lips met in a thin grey line. Capricorn said nothing, but crossed his arms in front of him and stared out the window.

**Normal POV**

The two blonde women strolled together, arm in arm into the ice rink. When they got inside, Lucy immediately pulled on her skates. Layla smiled warmly at her young daughter.

"Mama, why don't you come skate too? Like we used to!" Lucy suggested, really not wanting to leave her mother's side.

"Isn't this your practice time?" Layla asked. "I don't want to interrupt. Besides, Loke-kun might get mad." Layla took her daughters hand and turned it over in hers. When had her daughter grown up so quickly?

Lucy shot a quick glance at Loke who was engaged in a conversation with Capricorn. "He won't even notice." Lucy assured her mother and went off to get her some ice skates. When she came back she helped the older woman slide the skates on her feet. Hand in hand they walked to the ice rink and skated on together.

Loke tsked from where they were standing on the balcony that gave him and Capricorn a full view of the ice. "So much for a serious practice." He said, taking a seat on a bench overlooking the ice. Capricorn followed suit a few seconds later. Loke turned his full attention to the old man. "Okay, now that Lucy is out of ear shot, why don't you tell me why Layla came to see Lucy so suddenly."

Capricorn stared out onto the ice, his eyes never leaving Layla's skating form. "I told you, Layla-sama wanted to see her daughter." Capricorn stated.

"Okay, none of that bull-" Loke growled

"One last time." Loke froze and blinked at Capricorn in shock. Finally Capricorn took his eyes off Layla and onto the young adult beside him. "Loke-san. I'm sure you noticed Layla-sama's condition when we arrived." Capricorn told him gently.

He had, that was true. She looked extremely weak, but he had brushed it off as jetlag. "Has it come back?" Loke asked, his voice barley above a whisper.

Capricorn nodded. "Yes. And this time she has decided to forgo the chemo treatment." Loke sucked in his breath. "Loke-san, you must understand how painful this is for her. Her body is too weak for another round of chemotherapy and she realizes that." Loke sat with his hands on his knees, bending over like he was in pain.

"Is that why she came? To tell Lucy?" He asked Capricorn.

Capricorn went back to starring at the ice. "She's not telling Lucy." He said simply.

"What?!" Loke yelled, but then lowered his voice so he wouldn't draw anyone's attention. "She's giving up and not even telling her only daughter? Think of how heart broken she'll be!"

"Think of how Layla-sama feels. She wants her last day with Lucy-sama as happy and memorable as possible. She wants Lucy-sama to remember her for the good times, not the bad." Capricorn said solemnly. "If Lucy-sama were to know about this she wouldn't be enjoying herself this much." Loke ground his teeth bitterly. He whipped is glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes. He had already been sleep deprived and now getting hit with this was beginning to be to much.

"How long does Layla-sama have left?" He asked.

"The doctors think about a month, but it could be sooner or later." Capricorn said as he stood up. "I trust that you won't tell Lucy-sama any of this?" Loke nodded his head his bangs shielding his eyes as he looked don't at the ground. Capricorn walked over to the ice.

"Layla–sama, please come rest. Allow Lucy-sama to practice by herself." He called out to Layla. He was met with cries of refusal, but eventually Layla skated off the ice.

"Lucy-chan! When is your next competition?" Layla asked her daughter. Lucy grinned and held up a finger.

"One month. It's the first part of a really big competition. Promise you'll come?" Lucy asked. Layla's smile faltered for half a second, but she nodded anyways.

"I promise, Lucy-chan." Layla said quietly, avoiding her daughter's happy look.

Lucy grinned and skated out to center ice. "Loke!" She called up to him. "Play the song!" Loke walked over to where a set of loud speakers were set up for skaters to play music as needed. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, a song began to play.

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**Lucy POV**

I heard my song come on over the loud speakers. It was called "Wild Horses" by Natasha Bedingfield. Since the first competition was all about being graceful, we decided to go with a song that sounded graceful. Wild horses were graceful right? Stallions running across the prairie, the wind in their manes and the skiy as the limit, well at least that was what I pictured.

I let the music fill me up and began my ice dance. When choreographing, we had tried to make it seem like a horse growing up and maturing. The beginning was playful, filled with lots of jumps and spins. At one point I start hydroblading, which is when your right leg is bent and the other one is pointed straight beside you. I'm bent over so that my arm is skimming over the ice, and my face is literally inches from it too.

About halfway through, the mood changes and I become more majestic. My strides become longer and I use more of the ice, going around the rink in slow spins as I elongate different parts of my body. This part is mostly about isolation and being smooth as I skate gracefully around the rink. I finally finish in a lunge, panting hard.

I hear my mother cheer my name and Capricorn claps politely. Loke offers me a bottle of water and I drink it greedily, the cool liquid soothing my burning throat and lungs. "You cheated your double axel." He immediately pointed out and I winced.

"I was kinda hoping you didn't see that part." I said, scratching the back of my neck.

"You are finished for today, go get changed." Loke told me. Was it just me or was he avoiding eye contact. Oh well, whatever. I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek. He made a disgusted face followed by a 'bleh" and wiped it off. I ran to the locker room, laughing hysterically as I did so.

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A few hours of shopping later, my mother and I sat down at a nice traditional Japanese restaurant to eat together. Loke and Capricorn were resting at home, so finally I was alone with my mother. After a few minutes of chatting about all the stuff we bought a waiter came over to take our order.

"Alright what can I get you ladies to- Woah! No way it's Luce!" I heard a familiar voice. I looked up to see Natsu Dragneel, in all his glory wearing a nice collared shirt and tie. Well this was weird.

"Natsu, you work here?" I asked him, seeing my quiet dinner with my mother slowly slip away.

"Yeah!" He said excitedly. "Well, actually my family owns this restaurant." He said, rubbing his nose. This was quite an interesting development. I saw my mother smiling at me mischievously, eyebrows raised. H-E-double hockey sticks to the no was I going to let this happen.

"Um, mom this is my FRIEND Natsu. Natsu, this is my mom." I said, emphasizing friend. I knew I was going to regret this later, from which one though, I wasn't sure. I had told Natsu yesterday I lived with my dad, but then oh so happened to stumble into his restaurant with my mom? I couldn't see this going well.

But Natsu seemed unfazed. My mom held her hand out to Natsu who shook it politely. "My name's Layla. I'm so happy to finally meet one of Lucy's friends." She said looking at him fondly. Thanks mom. Now it seems like I don't have any friends. He grinned at her, saying something like 'the pleasure's all mine.'

This continued on for a few minutes until I pulled his red tie so that his face was only a few inches from mine. "Two waters please." I told him, really hoping he'd get the hint and leave.

Unfortunately he just looked at me confused, with a cute head tilt and everything. 'No Lucy, not cute. He's ruining bonding time.' I had to remind myself twice before I heard him say "Wha?"

"We. Would. Like. You. To. Get. Us. Two. Waters." I told him, pausing after each word. Obviously something clicked in his head because he wrote something down, flashed a grin, and said he'd be right back.

"A friend huh?" My mom asked with a knowing look in her eye as she rested her hand on her chin. She leaned back in her seat. "You were pretty friendly with him, how you grabbed his tie and all." She said.

I banged my head on the table. Jeeze I couldn't take this woman anywhere.

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As much as I had worried about Natsu being there, it was actually really nice. Mama and I were really able to catch up. I learned my mother worked as a journalist for her local news paper over salads, and over the main course she learned that I was thinking about becoming a novelist someday, a secret only Levy knew about. I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. After we finished our dinner, Natsu brought us out a huge slice of chocolate cake.

"Natsu! We didn't order this!" I objected but he just winked and put a finger in front of his lips. I bit my lip. Well it did look pretty good. I better thank him later.

"Look at friends doing friendly stuff for each other in a friendly way." My mother said in a sing-songy voice. I couldn't help but smile at her silliness.

"Just shut up and eat your cake." I said as I handed her a fork, grining.

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"Are you sure you have to leave?" I asked when we dropped Mama and Capricorn off at the airport that night. We were holding hands and I wasn't ready to say good-bye.

Mama looked at me tearfully. "Yeah. We came back because Capricorn-san need to work with Jude on something and I had to see you." She pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged her too, breathing in her smell that I was never able to exactly decide what it was.

"I love you Lucy." She said, tears streaming down her face. I tried to brush some away, but the tears just kept falling.

"Mama." I said with a slight laugh. "Don't cry. I'll see you at my competition in a month!" I reminded her, wanting her to stop crying. Unfortunately that only made her cry even harder.

"Lucy-chan." She sobbed. "When did you become so mature?" She pulled out of our embrace and kissed my forehead. "Remember that your mama always loves you, no matter what." She whispered to me, resting her forehead on mine. Where was all this coming from?

"I know Mama." I said quietly. "I love you too." She pulled me into another tight hug and after what only seemed like a few seconds, Capricorn said it was time to go. Loke stepped up and gave mama a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and with that, they left.

Loke and I drove home in silence. I vaguely wondered if he had gotten to take a nap or if he was still sleep deprived. I looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. I rested my head on the window and slept for the rest of the drive.

We arrived home a little while later and Loke gently shook me awake. I was exhausted from my busy day and I couldn't wait to get in bed. We walked into the house and I was about to walk up the stairs when Loke grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a hug.

"You know I love you, right?" He asked. I knew right away he didn't mean romantically, but it still surprised me. Loke didn't throw around the L-word too carelessly. Maybe something had happened with his girlfriend.

I nodded into his chest. "yeah, I know." I replied. He released me after that.

"Good. Go to sleep, you have school tomorrow, kiddo." He told me. I brushed the event off. Loke could be pretty weird when he was having female troubles. I shrugged and ran up the steps to my room. Had I looked back I would have seen Loke brushing tears away, but I didn'.

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**Authors note: BEFORE YOU KILL ME I ALREADY STATED THAT LOKE AND LUCY HAVE A BROTHER/SISTER TYPE RELATIONSHIP! THIS IS NALU ALL THE WAY! Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! It's kinda gonna add up to later events so I hope you were paying attention. I wanted to put in Lucy's celestial spirits. Virgo the maid, Loke as well Loke, Capricorn… muahaha bet you can't guess who's gonna be her ice skating coach. Ugh I basically switch to normal POV whenever I have something I want the other characters to do without Lucy hearing XD I gotta figure out how to fix that. And I don't know what kind of music skaters dance too (The only time I watch ice skating is during the Olympics) so I'm just going to use songs I hear frequently at color guard competitions XD**

**And yes Layla is a Nalu shipper =3**

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Authors Note: Yes! I am in marching band. I'm a band geek, what can I say? Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule I have been unable to update. I feel so guilty…so here is an extra long chapter! Please for give me! Fluff fluff fluff.**

**And also, huge shout out to Hikari for that list of skating songs! It gave me an amazing idea for later chapters. (Plus I love Frozen!)**

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After my mother's visit, time seemed to fly by. I would go to school every day and then practice every night with Loke. It amazed me how quickly I fell into this new pattern. My school life quickly improved too and I found myself being a lot happier all of a sudden.

Erza and Juvia quickly became close friends with me, and Levy seemed a lot happier too. I couldn't help but wonder if this was because of a certain janitor, but I didn't ask. And, okay, even Natsu and Gray had worked their way into my heart. We sat together every day at lunch, and most of time we talked about the most pointless things, but I've never had so much fun in my whole life!

Before I knew it, it was Friday, the most glorious day of the week and also the day of the championship hockey game. After begging all day and a chocolate chip cookie later, Natsu finally convinced me to go to his game. I rolled my eyes remembering how happy he had gotten as I closed my locker shut. I had stayed after to make up a test and everyone else had gone home.

I walked out the school doors and towards the entrance when I saw a girl standing there. She had short white hair and was wearing the uniform of Fairy Hills, an all girl's school on the other side of town. Her cheeks were red and she was all out of breathe. "Is there anything I can help you with?" I asked her kindly, pitying her. Whatever she rushed over here for must have been important.

Her eyes lit up when I spoke to her. "Do you know Natsu Dragneel?" She asked. A fan of Natsu? Well, good for him! She was pretty cute too. She was still waiting for my answer and I noticed she was holding something behind her back.

"Yeah." I said, curious as to what she was holding. "He's my friend." I told her and a look of relief washed over her face.

"Oh this is so lucky!" She said happily. She pulled a white bag from behind her back and handed it to me. "He left his jersey last night and I was going to wait till tomorrow to give it to him, but I just found out this morning that I have to go out of town tonight with my big sister!" She explained. A car horn honked in the distance. "Oh that's her now! I have to go! Thank you so much!" She called as she ran off.

So Natsu was the kind of guy to leave his clothes at poor, cute, innocent girl's houses and then force them to bring them back to him. I gripped the bag angrily. I looked it over and there was a tag that had a heart and said Lisanna.

So he had a girlfriend.

Whom he left his clothes with.

I wasn't mad. Why would I be mad? It's it natural for attractive boys to date pretty girls even though he had spent almost every waking moment with and befriended another girl? And it's not like he was that attractive.

I wasn't mad.

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I stalked into the ice rink. I knew he'd be there. Natsu always came to the ice rink after school to practice. I saw him lazily skate around the rink, hockey stick laid across his shoulders. I stomped onto the ice, ignoring the objections from the manager about not wearing ice skates. Natsu saw me and his face lit up in excitement, and then turned to alarm when he noticed I wasn't wearing any skates.

"Luce! Why are you not wearing skates? You're going to fa-!" He was cut off as I chucked the bag holding his jersey at his face. Natsu gave a cry of surprise and felon his butt. I wobbled a little too because due to my recklessly throwing the bag, but luckily I didn't fall. He seemed stunned for a minute, but then shot up off the ice so that we were face to face. "What was that for?" He shouted at me.

I pointed at the bag and glared at him. "Your jersey. A girl named Lisanna was at the school looking for you." He picked up the bag and looked into it. I huffed angrily. "Jeeze Natsu, if you're going to go around sleeping with women-" I was stopped as he covered my mouth with both his hands.

"W-what?!" He sputtered. "I left this jersey at practice yesterday. Lisanna is the student manager of the team. She must have found it and tried to deliver it to me." He explained, a desperate look in his eyes.

I brushed his hands away from my face. "Yeah right. If she's your team manager then why was she wearing a private school uniform?" I asked, annoyed.

He threw his hands up in the air, also annoyed. "For Fairy Tail! What are you so made about this?" He asked me.

I bit my lip and looked away. Why was I so angry? Because some girl had his jersey? Natsu looked at me, arms crossed, waiting for my answer.

"I just am!" I yelled and him and spun on my heel. I tried to walk off the ice confidently, but my lack of skates turned my confident strut into a wobbling toddler trying to walk. After almost falling, Natsu skated up behind me and grabbed my shoulders steadying me.

"You though I was sleeping with her?" He asked me seriously, hurt flashed in his eyes. "That's why you were angry?" He had skated me over to the edge of the ice, so that my legs were pressed up against the railing. He placed his hands on either side of me so that our noses were almost touching. His breathe smelt like cinnamon.

Not knowing what else to do, I kicked him in between the legs. "Lucy kick!" His eyes went wide in pain and he dropped to the ice. I wasted no time jumping over edge of the rink and ran towards the door. I looked back at him to see him lying on the ice in what seemed like agony. "Good luck at your game!" I called and then fled the building.

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"You did WHAT?!" Levy shouted into the phone. I pulled it away from my ear and winced. "Why would you…. But tonight it…. Lu-chan!" She lectured me and I zoned in and out.

"I know! But I was freaking out didn't know what to do and isn't the phrase like 'violence is always the answer?'" I told her frantically. I was walking home from the ice rink. Loke probably wouldn't be very happy I was skipping out on practice. I heard Levy sigh into the phone.

"No its violence ISN'T the answer! And so what if he was sleeping with Lisanna?" Levy said and the hair on the back of my neck bristled. "Not that they are because Elfman would kill Natsu, but that's beside the point. Anyways, you've only known the kid for like two weeks." Levy was right. I was dumb to think he didn't have a life before we met. Of course he did. I ran a hand through my hair. "Unless…" Levy said slowly.

"Unless what?" I asked the blunette, not liking her tone.

"Unless you're totally in love with him and you're jealous!" Levy exclaimed excitedly. Completely stunned, I tripped and fell on my face, earning glances from the people around me. My phone fell a few feet from me and I could hear Levy calling my name. I scurried to pick it up before someone stepped on it.

"There's absolutely no way I'm jealous! That idiot could have ruined my skating career!" I shouted into the phone. I could imagine her rolling her eyes at me. "I'm not jealous." I repeated, mostly of her sake, but for a little bit of my own.

"Oh yeah, like you've never hurt yourself before." Levy said with a snort. "Anyways, where are you?" She asked.

"Uh, almost at my house." I told her as I turned onto my street. A neighbor was outside gardening and I waved politely.

"Alright, cool I'll be there in an hour." She told me. I looked at my watch. It was almost four o'clock.

"What? Why?" I asked my friend as I got to my driveway. It was a warm day and Loke was outside washing his car. That thing was his baby. He had even named it. Reggie? Ronald? Regulus? Something like that. He raised an eyebrow at me and I waved at him. He would probably come in and question me about why I wasn't at the rink practicing.

"Cause the championships are tonight and I'm gonna make you so hot that Natsu couldn't possibly be mad at you." Levy announced. I immediately hung up the phone and chucked it across the room. Not my best idea, but today I wasn't really having the best ideas.

Crap. Because of what had happened I totally forgot about how I had promised Natsu I would go. He probably didn't even want me there now. Loke walked in the house and handed me his cell phone. A look of confusion and annoyance was on his face. I took the phone from him and cautiously held it up to my ear.

"LUCY HEARTFILIA HOW DARE YOU HANG UP ON ME!" Levy screamed into the phone. How could such a little girl have such a loud voice? How did she get Loke's number? These questions floated around in my head as Loke and I covered our ears. I brought the phone back up to my ear. Levy had continued talking. "I am not going to let you avoid Natsu, do you understand me? That boy did nothing wrong!" I looked up at Loke and he just shrugged, already bored with the situation.

"Okay! Levy, okay! I understand! I'll go to the game tonight!" I cried into the phone, wanting the yelling to stop. The other side of the line went silent.

"Good." Was all she said. "I'll be there soon." And with that she hung up. What had happen to my hour? I handed Loke his phone and then trudged up the stairs to my room. I lazily flopped onto my bed. I was feeling even worse than before. How could I face Natsu now?

Thirty minutes I heard the front door open and before I knew it Levy and Juvia were standing in my room. Levy crossed her arms and looked down her nose at me. "Closet?" She said through clenched teeth. I pointed in the general direction and she stalked off into my walk-in closet. Juvia gave me a pitiful look and pulled me off my bed and seated me onto a stool in front of my vanity. It was all over.

"Juvia is going to do your makeup." Juvia told me as she searched through my vanity.

"I can do my own makeup…" I told her but she just shook her head. I took in her appearance as she continued searching. She had her hair curled prettily. She was wearing a sleeveless blue stripped dress that hugged her body nicely. She looked like she was going to a party, not a hockey game.

"Juvia are you sure that you won't get cold at the game in that?" I asked her, a little concerned.

"Juvia doesn't get cold." She said simply. She finally found my eye makeup and went to work.

"Why are we getting so dressed up?" I asked her. She clicked her tongue and smacked me with a hairbrush.

"There's a huge after party after the game. Now stop talking so I can focus." I bit my cheek impatiently as she continued doing my makeup. I was a figure skater, I could do my own makeup. It was almost like she could read my mind. A light blush settled over Juvia's face. "Juvia has never done a friend's makeup before." She said softly. I sighed and relaxed. Fine, I would behave this one time.

Levy walked out of my closet holding a few of my nice dresses. She threw one on the bed. "Lu-chan, do I even want to know why you own a maid costume?"

I spun around in the chair and Juvia let out a frustrated cry. "That's not mine!" I shouted in defense. Okay maybe it was, but it was for a performance! For skating! Juvia spun me around and forced me to stay still. Levy chuckled. I could tell they were having a conversation with their eyes and a few minutes later Juvia was done with my makeup. Woah. I should hire her for competitions. I leaned in towards the mirror. I looked amazing, I could barley recognize myself.

"Alright, Lu-chan. Put this dress on and then I'll do your hair." Levy said tossing me a dress. I went into my closest and slipped the red fabric over my head. It was a red halter dress that stopped a little before my knees. It wasn't as revealing as Juvia's dress, but it still fit me pretty well. My favorite part about this dress was that it flared out when I spun around. I strutted back out into my room and Juvia and Levy nodded in approval.

"Swerve. Let's do your hair now." Levy said and sat me down on the stool. Swerve? Really? Levy had an IQ of about a million and she said swerve? I noticed she was wearing an orange sweater dress. How Levy pulled off orange I would never know, but she looked amazing. I guess Levy is like one of those mysteries you never figure out. Before I knew it the mysterious Levy (as I began calling her) had twisted my hair into an up do, with my bangs framing my face. "Perfect!" She said, clapping her hands. I starred at myself in the mirror.

"You guys…" I said, tearing up a little. "I feel like Cinderella." I pulled my two friends into a hug and we stayed like that for a little while. Levy squirmed out of the hug and opened the door.

"Your carriage awaits." She joked, adding a slight bow. We all walked down the stairs, arms link with each other, giggling and doing things we assumed all girls did. Loke was waiting at the bottom and gave a low whistle of approval.

"Woah, Lucy. Where did you get such cute friends?" He asked with a wink. Juvia and Levy blushed while I rolled my eyes. Loke could be such a playboy.

We all piled into Loke's car and he drove us to the ice rink. All though he didn't support my going to the hockey game after what happened last week, he didn't disapprove of it. It wasn't untill we reached the parking lot that I realized this wasn't the public ice rink where hockey games were usually held. This was Fairy Tail. Juvia and Levy jumped out of the car but I was frozen to my seat. Loke noticed my uneasiness.

"You'll be fine. You are just here to have fun with your friends." He told me calmly. "At an event this big I seriously doubt anyone will come up to you and question you about joining Fairy Tail." I took a deep breathe and Loke patted my hand. "Go. Have fun, I'll be here at eleven to pick you up. Stay golden."

I got out of the car and walked inside the skating center. This place was huge! My jaw went slack. There had to be at least three full sized hockey rinks in this room alone! Levy giggled at my shock. "Oh yeah, I forgot you've never been to Fairy Tail." She said, amused. Suddenly Juvia let out a cry that sounded like 'Gray-sama!' and ran off, leaving Levy and I alone. "There are a lot of people here from other skating centers. Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Phantom, you name it." She noted. I nodded my head. I had recognized a few girls as figure skaters that I regularly competed against.

"Yo shrimp!" We heard a voice called out and Gajeel appeared holding a pair of ice skates. "The game doesn't start for another hour and I need someone to test the ice. Will you?" He asked gruffly. At first Levy just tilted her head in thought, but then smiled at him warmly.

"Of course." She said softly and the two started walking off together. She looked back at me, only semi-sorry, and called, "Lu-chan! Find some seats for you me and Juvia! I'll meet you later!" Levy disappeared into the crowd and I was left all alone.

I felt the stares of what felt like hundreds as I walked through the crowd. I tried to ignore the glares a few people sent my way and when I heard my name whispered in conversation. I pulled my coat tighter around me, wanting to disappear. One girl looked especially angry and I recognized her as Angel, a girl who I had beaten by a fraction of a point in our last competition. She pointed at me and three big guys surrounding her looked at me. I gripped my coat even tighter when I saw they started following me.

I walked faster but I just couldn't shake these guys. I glanced back and saw a look of pure hatred in their eyes. If I hadn't been terrified before, I was now. I looked around frantically for Levy, Gajeel, Erza, anyone when I felt an arm wrap protectively around my shoulder. I looked up to see Natsu starring ahead calmly.

"Just keep walking. I won't let them hurt you." He said protectively and I sighed with relief. He glanced down in concern, slightly slowing our pace. We were behind the bleachers now. "You're shaking. Are you hurt?" He asked and I instantly felt guilty. I was the one who had hurt him. I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted when a large hand violently grabbed Natsu's shoulder and ripped him away from me. Natsu growled ferociously as two of the three men held him back. The other man stood between us, towering over me by a good foot and smirked.

"You must be the lovely Lucy Heartfilia." He said, reaching to touch my face. I took a step back only to run into the wall that was there. I had no where to run. "My name is Brain and I am the co-owner of Oracion Seis." I heard grunts behind him and a string of curses as Natsu struggled against the two bigger men.

The large man continued, ignoring Natsu's struggles. "Last month you beat your top skater, Angel, in a competition, correct?" Brain asked me. I nodded, too afraid to speak. Angel was an older skater who mainly relied on her flashy costumes and trick moves to score points, but lacked any real technique. I had sprained my ankle before that competition but even then I had managed to beat her, and I heard rumors that the Oracion Seis would be out for blood. Brain cracked his knuckles and I heard Natsu stop struggling. I took a step over to see if Natsu had been hurt and Brain's first connected with the wall, leaving a dent right where my head had been.

Before I knew it Natsu had broken out of the hold he was in, the two men on the ground, and landed a punch right between Brain's eyes. Brain fell back and Natsu jumped in front of me. A growl rose in his throat as Brain stood up again. He held his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. We'll settle this some other time." He said, addressing Natsu and I. "Cobra, Midnight, let's go. The two men slowly rose from the ground, one sporting a black eye, and the other with a bloody, broken nose.

"Like hell you will!" Natsu growled angrily. I paled and slowly sunk to the floor. I didn't know how to react. Sure, I had been threatened before but it had never been that bad! In a flash Natsu was on his knees in front of me, his eyes level with mine. I didn't know what to say to him and I could tell he didn't either as his eyes frantically searched mine fore a clue. Finally, he said "Hey."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. All the tension and terror I had just had just exploded out of me in fits of laughter. Before I knew it I was on my back, laughing like a maniac, not even caring that I was wearing a dress. After a few minutes I calmed down a little bit and sat up to see Natsu starring at me in alarm. "Hey." I said back before I fell back into another fit of laughter. I tears were streaming down my face, and I was thankful Juvia used water proof makeup, and my whole body shook from laughing. Natsu smiled weakly at me and pulled me into a hug.

"You're so weird." He said into my hair, starting to laugh a little too.

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For the next half hour Natsu and I wondered around Fairy Tail. He introduced me to some of the regulars of Fairy Tail, including Jellal, my new best friend who made the best hot chocolate in the world. Then Natsu took me over to the bleachers where we took our seats next a fairly young couple who were playing with their daughter. Levy was skating around the ice, dashing at speeds that seemed almost impossible. Now's my chance!

"Natsu." I started and he looked over at me lazily, his eyes looking into mine. I ripped my eyes from his and directed them back out to Levy. "About this afternoon. I just want to apologize for how I acted, and I'm really really really sorry for kicking you. That was uncalled for. I said some awful things to you and I understand if you hate me. I mean, it's really none of my business who you sleep with anyways." I concluded, proud of my self I said all that in one breathe. Natsu made a strangled noise and the women next to him gasped.

"My baby is sleeping with someone?" She cried out, a look of betrayal covering her face. The little girl next to her mirrored her mother's expression, and covered her mouth with her hands. Natsu shot up and faced the woman.

"NO! I'm not! It was a misunderstanding! I'm not even dating anyone!" He exclaimed. The woman visibly relaxed and sat back in her seat. The man accompanying her laughed hardily.

Oh Grandeeney, at some point you're just going to have to accept that our little Natsu is growing up." The man said proudly.

Natsu collapsed in his seat. "Dad…" He sighed. "It was just a misunderstanding." He exclaimed again. He looked over at me helplessly and grabbed my hand. "Luce, I don't hate you. And this is definitely not how I wanted to introduce you to my family." He complained.

His family? I was meeting his family? I was meeting his family and he wasn't dating anyone? I was meeting his family, he was dating anyone one, and most importantly, he didn't hate me? Score one for Team Lucy. I shook my head. No, there is no team Lucy. Stop it stupid brain.

The little girl jumped up and pushed Natsu aside, he fell to the ground with a 'thud' but I don't think she noticed. "Are you Lucy Heartfilia?" She asked excitedly. I smiled and shook my head yes and the little girl squealed with excitement. "My name's Wendy Dragneel! I'm twelve years old and one day I'm going to be a figure skater too!" She told me, hear eyes gleaming with hope.

I laughed and shook her head. "That's great, maybe we can go skating together soon and you could teach me a thing or two." Wendy stood there in shock, her eyes as big a dinner plates, and I was a little worried she might pass out. Then she squealed again and tackled me in a hug. Natsu had to pull her off of me and she sat contently between us, hugging my arm.

"So are you the Lucy that Makarov always talks about?" Natsu and Wendy's father, Igneel, asked me. It was pretty amazing how much he and Natsu looked alike, but Igneel's hair was more red than uh, 'salmon.'

Who was Makarov again? I looked at Natsu, hoping he could fill me in but his attention was focused on the ice where the rival team was practicing. Wendy pulled on my arm and I leaned down to her.

"The owner of Fairy Tail." She whispered in my ear. I flashed her a grateful grin and turned my attention back to Igneel.

"Um, probably?" I said shrugging. "He sends me letters all the time now, like once a month." I told the Dragneels. Suddenly a dark presence materialized behind me and Natsu whimpered in terror.

"Yes. Lucy is going to be the next great figure skater of Fairy Tail." I heard Erza say. Natsu tried to inch away from her but there was no where to go. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to steal Natsu away because our championship game starts in less than five minutes and he's not even dressed yet!" Erza said angrily. The Dragneels and I sweat dropped as Erza dragged Natsu away by his collar. Did this boy even like hockey?

"No! Wait a second!" He yelled, jerking free of Erza, who was now shooting daggers at him. Natsu ran back to us and yanked off his scarf. He looped it around my neck. "We one the last game so that means you're my good luck charm!" He said as he jogged back over to Erza. "Make sure you cheer for me!"

I starred blankly out onto the ice where the two hockey teams were warming up. Gray was shooting pucks at the goal as one of his team mates tried to block it. My face turned as pink as Natsu's hair as I heard Igneel give a knowing hum. I buried my face in my hands, willing my blush to disappear. It only got worse when out of the corner of my eye I saw Wendy looking up at me happily. "He liiiiikes you." She murmured and the buzzer sounded.

It was game time.

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**Authors Note: Aw man did that take a while! I'm so sorry for the wait! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll update whenever I can! (Hopefully by Wednesday!)**

**Pease review! Reviews inspire me to write more!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Okay I know I promised this would be up before Wednesday but um… well… I meant the next Wednesday! Sorry I've been busy with exams! And the day I had off I spent starting another fic only to get 10 pages in and realize I had no clue where I was going with it… so that ended that…**

**Also I need your help! This weekend is me and my boyfriend's two year anniversary and I am surprising him by making him dinner and a movie after! The trouble is I don't know what movie to pick… My options are A, his favorite movie that he doesn't know that I know because I asked my friends to snoop around. B, the first movie we ever saw and had our first kiss at (It was a scary movie though so I dunno how romantic that would be…) And then C, the first movie we ever went out to see together. Haha if you have an opinion please tell me!**  
**Enjoy!**

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It was the end of the first period and we were down by two points. Tension was high and the building, but not because of the points. So far in this championship game, none of the team members who were also a part of Fairy Tail had so much as touched the ice. Erza, Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and a few others sat on the bench angrily, not being able to do a thing but watch as their team was destroyed.

"Maybe it's a good thing they're not letting Erza out on the ice. She looks like she'd be out for murder." Wendy whispered to me. I nodded to her. The red head looked angrier than I'd ever seen her and all the other boys were sitting at least a foot a way from her.

"How come none of them are playing?" I asked her. After sitting next to the youngest Dragneel, I had learned she was a very smart and very informed little girl.

"I heard that the rival coach made a bet with Natsu-nii's coach that they wouldn't even be able to score a point without their Fairy Tail members." Wendy told me.

I face palmed. Adults could be so stupid sometimes, especially when it came to their pride. The players got up from the bench and trudged into the locker room, all looking devastated. Igneel suddenly stood up, a fire burning in his eyes.

"I'm going to talk to that damn coach!" He announced. Huh. So the father was just as reckless as his son. Grandeeney pulled him back down.

"No you are not! This is your son's issue to deal with and you are not going to interfere!" She ordered him calmly. Igneel crossed his arms and pouted, but he didn't make a move to get up again.

Wendy stood up and stretched. "Lucy-nee, do you want to go for a walk?" She asked me, holding out her small hand. I took it and she pulled me up.

"Sure, I need to see if I can find Levy too." I told her. The blunette smiled happily and led me around the ice rink. I was a little afraid that someone would recognize me again, but that worry slipped away when Wendy and I bought some more hot chocolate. (What can I say, Jellal was a hot chocolate god and I have a problem.) Going back to our seats Wendy and I ran into Makarov Dreyar arguing loudly with a tall blonde man.

"…I don't care if you aren't in charge! You own this place! Put my team on the ice!" The blonde man yelled at him. Mr. Makarov seemed to be paying little attention to the man.

"Laxus, this is the coach's decision, not mine." Mr. Makarov said calmly.

"Yeah, well the coach is an idiot! Those kids need some real ice time or else they won't be able to judge the other player's strengths and weaknesses! And if they loose this game they'll be depressed and so damn lethargic for my practices with them!" They guy, Laxus continued yelling, but no one seemed alarmed. Huh maybe this happened pretty often.

Mr. Makarov sighed and massaged his temples. "Laxus this isn't my problem right now. My problem is that I promised a skating performance after the second period by the amazing Mirajane Strauss but she left for a competition this afternoon." By this point Wendy and I were only a few feet away from the two men. "Where am I suppose to find a professional figure skater in the next thirty minutes?"

Wendy and I heard that part. I froze and she looked up at me hopefully, an excited grin frozen on her face and her eyes sparkling. I tired to shake my head no before she spun around to the two men but I was too slow. She jumped over to Mr. Makarov and started speaking animatedly with him. And then he saw me. I swear that everyone in Fairy Tail has like, super speed because before I could even blink the small old man was standing in front of me, a Cheshire cat smile stretched across his face.

"Luuuuuucy-chan! What a wonderful surprise!" He said taking my hand and kissing it. I could see the gears turning in his little old head. "Welcome to Fairy Tail! How come you decided to visit so suddenly?" He asked me, like one of the biggest hockey games of the season wasn't going on and basically the entire town hadn't filled the enormous room.

"Uh… Natsu invited me." I told him, my mind going blank. This was not going to go well at all.

"Natsu! He's such a nice boy!" Mr. Makarov said as he led me to the side of the rink. I distinctly remember him about ready to cuss out the pink haired boy at the last game, but I shoved that thought to the back of my mind when he continued talking. "Laxus! Have you met Lucy Heartfilia?" He asked Laxus, emphasizing every syllable of my name.

Laxus just 'tched' and pushed me aside. "Gramps, I don't care about some damn figure skater. I care about-" He was silenced when Mr. Makarov slammed a hockey stick over his head. Not sure where he got that from.

"Laxus…." Mr. Makarov said, his aura turning dark and his words like venom. "I expect you to be polite when it comes to dealing with our guests." Laxus just 'tched' again and stormed away. Mr. Makarov turned back to me, the smile back on his face like nothing had happened. "Please ignore my troublesome grandson. He's not used to dealing with people." He said airily.

Wendy giggled and linked arms with me. "Mr. Makarov, don't you think it would be a great idea if Lucy-nee skated for us! There's no one in the world who doesn't want to see Lucy-nee skate!" She said happily. I sweat dropped. I could name a few.

Unfortunately Mr. Makarov nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, it would be a special treat if Lucy-chan was willing to demonstrate her skills in front everyone? Plus we would be so honored to have the famous Lucy Heartfilia skate on our ice." Makarov gushed.

I took a step back. "Hahahaaa… as great as that would be unfortunately I left my skates at home along with all my costumes." I said awkwardly. Well, this was my best excuse. Hopefully it'll hold through.

It didn't.

"Thanks ok Lucy-nee!" Wendy cheered. "Fairy Tail has tons of extra skates! Plus aren't you wearing a pretty dress? You can just put some tights on under it and it'll be fine!" She grabbed my hand and started bouncing up and down excitedly. I ran a hand through my hair, I couldn't just say no to this excitable little girl.

"Alright fine. I have a few routines that could work." I said finally. Wendy and Mr. Makarov cheered. Wendy wrapped her arms around my waist and I patted her back awkwardly. If this girl wasn't so cute that I would have said no. Definetly. Probably.

"Alright then you and Wendy should go to the locker room. It's not like the teams changing or anything so it will be fine. Ill go get you some skates and meet you there in a few minutes." Mr. Makarov told us and then went on his way.

Wendy couldn't stop smiling as she led me to the locker room. She kept saying things like "I'm so happy!" Or "This is so lucky!" And I just nodded dully. What if I wasn't up to their standard? Or after they saw me skate they wouldn't want me any more? I shook my head. Woah Lucy, why do you care if they want you? Finally we got to the locker room and once we opened the door our ears were filled with loud voices and screaming.

"This is bullshit!" Someone that sounded like Gray yelled. A few other people mumbled their agreements and more comments like that were yelled. Wendy and I pressed ourselves against the side wall, trying to be unnoticed as we made our way to the back. We weren't lucky.

One of the coaches noticed us and stormed over to us. Wendy hid behind me, not wanting to get yelled at. "Excuse me!" He said, quite rudely. "This room is for the players, so if you could just wait till after the game to get your little autographs." The man said mockingly. When neither of us said anything he grabbed both our wrists and started dragging Wendy and I towards the door.

Elfman saw the situation that was happening dashed over to us. Well, dashing as much as he could in all his hockey gear. "Hey! It's not manly to treat women like that!" He said loudly, drawing the attention of everyone else. Towering over the coach, he lifted him up so that his grasp on us was broken. Natsu ran over to us once he noticed what was going on.

"Wendy! Lucy! Why are you here?" He asked confused. Wendy ran forward and flung her arms around his waist, tears forming in her eyes.

"Natsu-nii! Mr. Makarov told us… Lucy-nee, going to skate so we came here!" She said blubbering. "But that man was gonna make us leave! It hurt! We just did what we were told!" She attempted to explain. Tears were now streaming down the little girls face and the coach turned bright red, embarrassed for making the young girl cry. He earned a number of glares from his team.

Natsu picked the younger girl up and stood her on one of the benches so that they were now face to face. "Hey Wendy, it's alright. The big stupid man didn't mean any of that." He said quietly. The coach over heard this and started objecting but was silenced when Elfman put him in a choke hold. By this time Erza had made her way over to me to see if I was okay. I told her I was and we went back to watching the brother-sister moment that was unfolding before us.

"I just want to see Lucy-nee skate!" She cried, tears slowly stopping. Natsu wiped the remaining tears of her face.

"And she will. She definetly will." He assured her, flashing a grin. "And then someday you'll skate with Lucy-nee too and that stupid man is just going to stare like a fish!" Wendy cracked a smile at that. "And he'll say: 'How could I have been so stupid to yell at that pretty blue haired girl. I must surely be an idiot!'" Natsu said, lowering his voice and imitating the man. Wendy started laughing and we all let out a sigh of relief. Big brother Natsu to the rescue.

Wendy jumped off the bench, the prior innocent almost completely forgotten. She ran over to me and looked up at me, her eyes still slightly moist. "You're not scared, right Lucy-nee?" I flashed her a smiled and I assured her that I wasn't.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just trying to pick the perfect routine to perform for you." I told her and she gasped excitedly. I handed her my phone. "Here, if you go into music I have a playlist that has ten or twenty songs in it that should be okay. Could you please pick on for me?" I asked her. Wendy took my phone from me and ran to the back of the locker room, set on her mission.

Natsu had walked over to me but before he could say anything a man walked into the locker room and informed the team there was only five minutes left in the break. Although everyone else shuffled out of the locker room, he didn't move. "You're gonna skate?" He asked me.

"Yeah, Mirajane Strauss was supposed to be here but she left earlier today and Mr. Makarov was really desperate." I explained to him.

He blew out a puff of air. "I don't like it." He said matte-o-factly.

I laughed. "Aren't you the one that wants me to be apart of Fairy Tail?" I asked him. Natsu tilted his head in thought.

"I do, but not this way." He said and crossed his arms. "There are so many people here. What if someone trying to approach you like earlier and actually does manage to hurt you?" He asked seriously.

"Natsu, I've preformed for more and made it out alive. I'll be fine." I assured him, but he didn't look satisfied. One of the coaches poked his head into the locker room and started yelling at Natsu, who in turn ignored him. "Uh I think it's time for you to go."

"Promise you wont go anywhere without me after you perform." Natsu said, a serious look in his eyes. I laughed and messed up his hair with my hand, he was taking this too seriously. He scowled and gently grabbed my wrist. "Promise me." He repeated.

I sighed and smiled slightly at him. "Alright, I promise. Anywhere I go, you go. Got it." I told him, but he still didn't look pleased.

"And don't do any risky tricks on the ice. No flips or whatever you figure skaters do. And also-" I clamped my hands on his cheeks and pulled. "Ow ow ow! I get it ok!" He cried and I let up. Natsu rubbed his cheeks and gave me a slight glare. "I just want you to be careful.

I quick did my hair up in a quick bun. "Natsu, I'll be fine. I'm used this. I promise that I'll be okay." I told him. Finally he sighed, more or less content with my answer. He turned to leave the locker room but stopped at the door.

"It worries me that you're used to this." He said quietly and then left. I was a little confused to what he said. What was to be worried about?

"Lucy-nee! I picked a song!" Wendy called and I made my way back to her. "It's 'Defying Gravity' from Wicked!" She told me and we listened to the song. Right, she would pick a song that had some of my most complicated tricks. Oh well, sorry Natsu, but we can't disappoint your cute little sister.

"Sounds good." I told her and then Makarov came in with a few pairs of skates.

"I didn't know what size you were so I just brought a few." He told me and dropped them in a pile in front of me. "Here's a pair of tights and spandex too."

"Thanks so much Mr. Makarov." I told him, and I was. Maybe this could be a great opportunity. He laughed heartily.

"No thank you Lucy-chan. We were in quite the pickle until you showed up." Mr. Makarov said. Wendy sat beside me and hummed happily, kicking her feet. I changed into the tights and we sat in silence for a few minutes until a buzzer went off. Mr. Makarov stood up. "Sounds like someone scored." He said and went to the locker room door. He winced when he saw the score board. "Down by three with seven minutes left in the second period. My my, this isn't good." He said gleefully.

Wendy and I looked at him, confused. "Why is that a good thing?" I asked him

"Because if they lose this game because of such a stupid decision then the coach will be fired. And rumor is that Laxus is a possibility for head coach if that were to happen." Mr. Makarov explained to us. Oh now it made sense.

"Isn't Laxus-san in college now?" Wendy asked politely.

"Yes, but he'll be graduating next year and is gonna need a job. Since I need him close by for Fairy Tail, this would be perfect." Mr. Makarov said. I slid on a pair of skates and they fit. A little worn, but they fit. I noticed they had a M and a V etched in the heel. Mr. Makarov looked over in slight surprise. "Those skates?" He mumbled. I was going to ask him about it but decided not to when I saw the far away look in his eye. Maybe these skates were filled with bad memories.

A gain silence fell over us so Wendy and I went back to listening to the song. I hadn't preformed this routine in a year or two, but I was confident that I still knew it. The buzzer rang again and second period was over. The players trudged back into the locker room, looking at lot worse for ware, their moods foul.

I tried to give Erza an encouraging smile as Mr. Makarov, Wendy, and I left the locker room but she was busy glaring daggers at the head coach, who had broken out into a cold sweat. We walked over to the entrance of the ice and an announcer announced my name to the crowd. I skated onto the ice and it went silent.

I skated across the ice and noticed it wasn't very smooth. That could be a problem if I wasn't careful. I took a deep breath and assumed a starting position and the music started. I saw the Dragneels watch me, enchanted with my performance and I caught Levy's eye as I skated by where she was sitting. I thought I saw her raise and eyebrow but I didn't pay it any mind. I was too focused on the song and the routine to pay attention to what was outside the rink.

I landed a triple axel towards the end of the song a stumbled forward, my skate getting caught on some loose ice. I clenched my fists. That wasn't even my biggest jump and I was having troubles on this ice. Finally it was time for that jump and once I felt my feet leave the ice I closed my eyes, something I shouldn't have done, but was too afraid to keep them open.

To my surprise I landed it perfectly, my skates landing on a smooth patch of ice. I breathed out in relief and before I knew it the song was over. The audience went wild, applauding and cheering for me. As I skated off I saw all the Fairy Tail hockey tail members cheering too. I hoped they wouldn't get in trouble for watching me.

As I made my way to the exit of the rink my skate got caught and I started to fall forward. I mentally slapped myself. After that performance I'm going to fall on my face in front of everyone. Suddenly two pairs of arms wrapped around me and kept me from falling. I looked up to see Natsu and Gray grinning at me.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Gray told me enthusiastically and I found myself grinning too. Natsu nudged him with his shoulder and we walked off the ice.

"Aw come on Ice Princess is that the best complement you can do?" Natsu taunted him. They started arguing until Erza came up and bashed both of them on the head.

"If anyone is the Ice Princess, it's Lucy." She said kindly and I started to blush.

"Thank you guys." I said and pulled them into a group hug. Mr. Makarov and Wendy ran up to us next.

"Lucy-nee! That was amazing!" Wendy shouted. I wrapped my arms around my shoulders, a little cold now that I was just wearing a sleeveless red dress in a forty degree ice rink. They all continued to gush over my performance and I started to get embarrassed. It wasn't that great a performance. Normally I would have gotten a fault for stumbling out of my triple axel but no one seemed to notice that.

Natsu laced his fingers through mine and gently pulled my closer to him. "You were incredible." He whispered and my face broke out a bright red blush. I yanked my hand away from him and he grinned at me.

"Um, I need my jacket!" I announced and ran back to the locker room. I clapped my hands against my cheeks and willed the blush to go down. Why was I getting so embarrassed because of one salmon haired hockey player? I pulled my coat on and took off the skates I had been wearing. Juvia and Levy walked in the locker room shortly afterwards.

"Um… What was that?" Levy demanded, but I could tell she wasn't mad. A grin was stretched across her face.

"Oh, just practice for the Icicle Queen cup." I said nonchalantly as I slipped on my red ballet flats. Juvia shoved her face in mine.

"Does this mean you are now a member of Fairy Tail?" She asked me. I shook my head no.

"Nope, they were just in desperate need of a figure skater and I was here." I explained as I took my hair down from the bun it had been in. I debated what to do with it but then just decided to leave it down. The game had started back up again and we could hear the cheers of the crowd increasing. "Wonder what's going on." I said aloud and we left the locker room.

As soon as we left the buzzer went off and we all gasped in amazement when we saw who had scored. We were behind where the hockey players were seating and all the players on our team stood up rapidly.

"That's one!" A few of them called and the Fairy Tail members climbed over the railing and onto the ice. The coach looked on helplessly, but it was easy to tell he was extremely pleased. There was ten minutes left in the period and we needed three points to win.

Juvia squealed in excitement. "If anyone can do it, Gray-sama can!" She called out. Gray looked over from the ice and waved. Juvia all but fainted and Levy and I had to hold her up.

Another minute went by and our team scored again! There was a huge difference in the amount of skill that was on the ice now in comparison to the other periods. The crowd all but lost it when our team scored another point a few minutes later.

I leaned against the glass and looked up at the clock. Four minutes left, three to three. The referee dropped the puck in the middle and the players went after it and a full out game of what looked like tag took place. Gray had the puck and skated towards the goal but was blocked by another player so he passed it to Natsu. Natsu stopped it easily and skated around a defender almost twice his size. He was in range of goal when he was stopped by another player.

The other player pushed Natsu aside and he lost the puck, but Erza made a grab for it with her stick and kept it in her possession. She was only a foot away from the goal and made an attempt to shoot but was pushed to the ice by the goalie. The ref blew his whistle and everyone backed off. Erza stood up and she and the goalie got into an argument. The audience looked on in silence. That is, until the goalie threw a punch that landed on Erza's nose.

A full fledge fight broke out on the ice, and almost everyone one was punching somebody else. The audience started screaming its opinions and it was pure chaos. I saw Wendy cover her eyes with her hands and I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Finally the ref blew his whistle and gave each team a penalty.

Erza and a player from the other team skated to the penalty box were they would have to sit for two minutes. Unfortunately, there was only a minute and forty-five seconds left in the game. The referee started everyone back at the center and the fight for the puck went on. Whenever our team would get in shooting range of the goal, the other team would drive them back.

This continued on for another long minute until Natsu finally found an opening and skated past the defenders. He made a shot on goal but the goalie deflected it. The puck bounced back to the awaiting Gray who attempted another shot, and made it.

The whole arena went crazy. Natsu tackled Gray and they fell laughing and hugging onto the ice. I laughed. Someone should take a picture of this for blackmail someday. The whole team was screaming and everyone was already celebrating.

I crossed my arms and leaned back, content to watch everyone celebrate. "All this excitement for one little hockey game?" I asked, glancing at Levy. She looked at me like I was crazy, until I broke out in a grin and she punched my arm.

"Oh, just you wait till the after party." She said evilly, a mischievous look appearing in her eye. She pulled me down and whispered in my ear. "Who knows what a certain hockey player might do in all his excitement when he's alone with you." She taunted.

I grinned back at her. "I dunno, but maybe Gajeel is going to need some help cleaning out those locker rooms." She rolled her eyes at me. "And maybe he'll run out of rags so you'll have to use your clothes…" I let the sentence hang in the air. Levy shoved a handful of popcorn in my mouth.

"W-what are you s-saying!" She said, freaking out and her eyes as wide as saucers. "Stop it! Don't look at me like that!" I continued my teasing and Juvia started laughing at the two of us. "Luuuu-chan!" Levy cried, begging me to let up. After glaring at me for a second or two we all broke out into uncontrollable laughter.

I brushed a stray tear from my eye. "I'm so glad we're friends." I said, honestly.

Levy looked at me, her expression softening. "Me too." She said and pulled Juvia and I into a hug. I could get used to this.

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**Author's Note: All done! Hope you like this! Big party scene next chapter! Woop woop! And don't worry, this isn't going to turn into a lemon. I am not emotionally ready for that and I don't think Levy is either!**

**And Natsu being a big brother to Wendy makes me happy. I love their relationship, in canon and what people make them on here. It's so cute!**  
**Please review! Expect an update…. Man I should stop saying that.**

**Please tell me what you think of this! And if you have any suggestions or ideas pleeease tell me!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Authors note: Oh my goodness I'm so sorry about this wait. I have so many story ideas but absolutely no time to right! We've been having family problems and I've had absolutely no time for myself. (And actually I'm suppose to be doing homework right now, but I'm counting on a snow day tomorrow XD0**  
**Alright so this chapter is kind of questionable cause I have no clue where I'm going with it…. The next chapter is ALL planed out and I'm so excited for you guys to read it! But for now you'll have to survive with this one! Hope you enjoy.**

**And this is some serious branching out. I almost never read or deal with Erza much (Though I love her to pieces!) So sorry if she's a bit OOC, this is a first for me**

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**Erza POV**

I pulled on my practice skates and stepped out onto the ice. It was strange skating like this, alone, casually. Something I wasn't use to. Usually I had to muscle my way out onto the ice, ready with a glare in case one of my idiot teammates did something stupid, which was quite often. But no, this was different. For the first time in a very long time I was able to skate alone on the ice.

The party had ended almost an hour ago, but there were still a few people still loitering outside the rink. At the top of the bleachers sat Juvia and Gray. Juvia looked extremely excited to finally spending time with Gray while Gray seemed exhausted. I chuckled, well of course he would. Over the course of the night Gray and Natsu had decided to make a competition out of who was able to sign the most autographs. After the first hour they were both whining about their hands cramping up and had to stop. Hmph. Babies. The real winner though had been Lucy. What seemed like hundreds of people had gone up to the young blonde asking for an autograph. She had politely declined them all, of course, and scooted herself closer to Natsu, who seemed to have no problem wrapping a protective arm around the blonde.

Now that was an interesting development. Out of all my teammates, Natsu wasn't one for being… into relationships. Of course he had dated before, but he wasn't really one to stick with the same girl for a long period of time. It was different seeing Natsu so loyal and protective of a girl he had only known for a few weeks. Maybe something had happened earlier? I'd have to interrogate the salmon head later.

Speaking of said salmon head after my third lap around the rink I saw him and Lucy sitting on the bleachers. Her head was resting on his shoulder and I assumed she was asleep. Natsu sat with his arms crossed and head tilted on the smaller girls, most likely also asleep. I almost tripped and fell after seeing that. Natsu, one of the most densest, idiotic, and hyper guys in the whole world might finally have a real girlfriend.

"You look lost in thought." A deep voice said. "I'm amazed you haven't fallen." I swerved around to see Jellal standing at the edge of the rink, two cups in his hands. I pushed against the ice and skated over to him.

"You know I don't like hot chocolate." I told him and he gave me that adorable, irresistible half smile that all boys seem to know how to do.

"I know, that why it's coffee. Extra sweet." He added with a wink. I gratefully accepted the cup from him.

"Alright, you get bonus points." I said and nudged him with my shoulder. He laughed and then took a sip from his cup.

"I was hoping I'd get more than just bonus points." He said, cutting his eyes to me. "Maybe like a date." I sighed and looked up at him, his eyes hopeful.

"Jellal, you know I can't. Even thought the school season is over, Fairy Tail starts tomorrow and I need to be fully devoted to my team. College scouts are going to be coming and I need to be fully focused on-" He shut me up by pressing his warm, chocolaty lips against mine. Even after a year I still felt sparks. Finally he pulled away and the world slowly came back into focus.

"Yeah, I know, but it was worth a shot." He threw his now empty cup into a nearby trash can. "I just wanted to spend time with my girlfriend before she became a hockey monster." He teased and ruffled my hair. I blushed madly and spun away from him, my skates twisting beneath me.

"S-stop!" I stuttered out. "You used the G-word! My heart can't take it!" I said and clutched my hand to my chest. Jellal laughed and stepped out onto the ice and shakily walked over to me. When he reached me he grabbed my hand and pulled me close.

"You've always been one for dramatics." He whispered in my ear. I tilted my head up at him and he slowly leaned down. The space between us began to disappear, only another centimeter aaanndd- BAM!

We were interrupted by a door slamming open. Jellal and I jerked back from each other, each of us landing on our butts on the cold hard ice. The sound had also caught the attention of Gray and Juvia who looked over to see a very angry Loke followed by an even angrier Mr. Makarov.

"For the last time, she's not joining Fairy Tail!" Loke shouted over his shoulder as he stormed over to where Lucy and Natsu were sleeping. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her towards the door. Natsu, without anything to support his sleeping form crashed onto the floor.

"What the hell?!" He screamed, jumping up. A red welt was forming on his head.

"You're going to ruin her future because of your selflessness!" Mr. Makarov shouted at Loke. Lucy began to stir in Loke's arms and we all watched helplessly.

"No! You're going to ruin her future if I let her come here! Who would take the great Lucy Heartfilia seriously is she started skating for this joke of a skating center!" Loke spat, venom dripping from his voice. A low growl in Natsu's throat and Mr. Makarov seethed. Jellal and I rushed off the ice and over too our master.

"What's going on here?" I demanded, arms crossed. Loke looked at me over the rim of his glasses, obviously not impressed. He sneered at Mr. Makarov.

"Jesus, you're even getting a teenage girl to do your dirty work, Dreyar?" Loke muttered. He turned on his heel and walked out of the building. Lucy looked over his shoulder, sleep clouding her eyes, and obviously not aware to the situation.

Mr. Makarov pulled a cloth out of his pocket and wiped his brow. "Sorry you all had to see that." The old man apologized to us. Juvia and Gray made their way down the bleachers and over to us.

"What the hell was that about?" Gray asked when he got down to us. Mr. Makarov sat on the lowest bleacher and we all crowded around him.

"Loke Celeste, Lucy's manager, came to pick her up and we ran into each other in the parking lot. I asked if we could talk in my office and well… that's where things got bad." Mr. Makarov said with a sweat dropped.

"Bet he didn't love hearing about Lucy-san's little performance?" Jellal asked Mr. Makarov.

"Bingo." Mr. Makarov sighed. "Said we were trying to force Lucy-chan to join and blah blah blah. Then he got all uppity when I suggested that Lucy-chan try practicing at Fairy Tail with some of our skaters. You know, like Mira-chan. Well Mr. Big shot manager would have none of that. Said we only wanted Lucy because of her name."

Natsu slammed his hand on the bleacher. "That's insane! We want Lucy cause she's Lucy! You told him that, right Gramps?" Mr. Makarov looked away, avoiding eye contact. "Right, Gramps?" Natsu repeated, teeth clentched.

"Well not, in so many words…." Mr. Makarov drew out and we all sighed, agitated.

"What exactly did you say?" Gray said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well… I told him how much of an honor it would be for Fairy Tail to bear the Heartfilia name…." Mr. Makarov said quietly.

The five of us groaned loudly, Gray adding a face palm. Mr. Makarov looked around frantically.

"Well what did you expect?! Im not very tactful! I'm useless without Mira-chan!" He cried. Natsu plopped down besides the man and buried his face in his arms. He sighed dramatically and we turned our attention to him.

"Guess it's up to us then." He said simply.

"Us?" I asked, hoping he'd clarify.

"Yeah, us. We just gotta make Lucy fall in love with us and make her want to be apart of Fairy Tail so bad that orange head cant deny it." He declared. Gray muttered a 'don't you mean fall in love with you?' and earned an elbow to the gut from Juvia. He winced over in pain and was silenced.

"Juvia thinks it's a good idea. As a manager, Loke-san not only needs to do what's best for Lucy, but also what she wants." Juvia spoke up.

"Ezra- I mean I think it's a good idea too." I said and looked up at Jellal hopefully.

"If she's in then I'm in. Though I don't really know what I can do since I don't go to school with you kids." Jellal said thoughtfully. Natsu grinned at him.

"Just leave it to me!" He said confidently.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It wasn't till almost a week later when we saw Lucy again. She trudged into the cafeteria looking exhausted that Friday. Levy jumped up and ran to her and threw her arms around her best friend, Natsu wasn't far to follow.

"Where have you been? You haven't been answering my phone calls or anything!" Levy cried and Lucy gave her a tired half smile.

"Sorry, I've been in Kobe since Monday, just got back last night." Lucy replied to her and allowed Levy and Natsu to guide her to the table. The two sat on either side of her and glared at each other, obviously not happy about having to share Lucy.

"What's in Kobe?" Juvia asked her.

"A training coach Loke wanted me to meet. I have a big competition in two weeks and he's been trying to find me a coach." Lucy explained. "Unfortunetly this one didn't work out." She added with a shutter.

"Not good enough for ya, princess?" Gray asked and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Well, usually the coaches really shouldn't be… touching the skaters. This guy obviously never got that memo." She said with a scowl. Natsu sat up, alert.

"Some guy tired to touch you?!" He shouted. "I'll kill him!" Natsu jumped up but I grabbed the back of his collar and slammed him back down in his seat.

"Easy there, Fido." I told him calmly. He shot me a glare and I shrugged. "What, you're going to travel from Tokyo to Kobe and kill some guy you've never even seen before in time before fourth period?" I asked him. Natsu 'hmphed' and crossed his arms, but didn't say any more. I patted his head. "Good boy. You get a treat." I added placing a cookie in front of him. His eyes lit up right away and he devoured the cookie. Lucy chuckled beside him.

"Man, I sure did miss you guys." She said and a smile formed on her face. She stretched her arms out on the table and rested her head on her arms. Levy mirrored her.

"So I heard there was some drama at the rink after I left. I heard about it from these kids but what happen with you and Loke after the two of you left?" Levy asked her. Lucy groaned and turned her head to Levy. Of course the rest of us leaned in to hear, curious what had happened.

"I don't really know. I was out cold until Loke woke me up. He carried me out to the car and basically fumed until we got home. Then on Sunday he told me we were going to Kobe to meet an instructor. That's basically it." Lucy explained. Levy hummed and sat up.

"Loke really doesn't want you to join Fairy Tail does he?" Levy asked.

"Nope." Lucy said as she sat up. "But it's really not his decision, it's mine." She said firmly. The rest of us all shot each other a hopeful look.

"And what are you thinking Lucy?" I finally asked her. She shot me a sideways smile as the bell rang.

"I think Fairy Tail is a pretty great place to be." She answered and stood up. Natsu jumped up too and spun her around happily, adding a few woops and hollers.

"You're going to be brilliant!" Levy cheered. I nodded in agreement. This was great, turns out we shouldn't have been so worried about how to get Lucy to join Fairy Tail.

Too bad what was going to happen in the next few weeks would change all of that.

* * *

**Authors note: CLIFF HANGER! Hahah don't worry I promise there won't be such a long wait till the next update. Like I said before I really didn't know where I was going with this chapter but the next one is totally planned out so expect and update soon!**  
**And I hope you liked the Jezra fluff. I figured it'd be cute to have a couple that's already dating, but as you can see, they have their own little story line too! I just gotta get better at writing as Erza….**  
**Anyways, please review! Reviews inspire me to write more!**

**Oh and if anyone has a picture I could use for this story that would be great! I have no ideas but I'm thinking that I really need one!**


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